Many members of the brassicaceae family are edible, often with a tangy taste, including several mustard-like species, hence the common name of mustard family. The US has 99 genera and nearly 800 species, found in virtually every county. Flowers are produced in clusters, often containing dozens of heads, which tend to mature gradually over a period of weeks or months, so a typical cluster may contain buds, flowers and fruit at the same time. Flowers always have four sepals and four petals, non overlapping, and (usually) six stamens, two shorter than the others. The family was previously known as cruciferae, on account of the petals being arranged in the shape of a cross.