Brassica |
Brassica rapa |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
cabbage, cole, mustard, turnip |
bird's rape, bird-rape, canola, common mustard, field-mustard, rape, rapeseed, turnip, turnip-rape, wild-rape, wild-turnip |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Habit | Annuals, biennials, or, rarely, perennials; not scapose; glabrous, glabrescent, or pubescent. | Annuals or biennials; (roots fleshy or slender); (green to slightly glaucous), glabrous or sparsely hairy. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Stems | erect, unbranched or branched distally. |
unbranched or branched distally, 3–10 dm. |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Leaves | basal and cauline; petiolate or sessile; basal (persistent in B. tournefortii), rosulate or not, petiolate, blade margins entire, dentate, or lyrate-pinnatifid; cauline petiolate or sessile, blade (base sometimes auriculate or amplexicaul), margins entire, dentate, lobed, or sinuate-serrate. |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Basal leaves | petiole (winged), (1–)2–10(–17) cm; blade ± lyrate-pinnatifid to pinnate to pinnatisect, (5–)10–40(–60) cm × 30–100(–200) mm, (margins sinuate-dentate, sometimes ciliate), lobes 2–4(–6) each side, (terminal lobe oblong-obovate, obtuse, large, blade surfaces usually setose). |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Cauline leaves | (middle and distal) sessile; base auriculate to amplexicaul, (margins subentire). |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Racemes | (corymbose), considerably elongated in fruit. |
not paniculately branched, (with open flowers overtopping or equal to buds). |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Flowers | sepals usually erect or ascending, rarely spreading, oblong [ovate], lateral pair usually saccate basally; petals yellow to orange-yellow [rarely white], obovate, ovate, elliptic, or oblanceolate, claw often differentiated from blade, (sometimes attenuate basally, apex rounded or emarginate); stamens tetradynamous; filaments slender; anthers oblong or ovate, (apex obtuse); nectar glands confluent or not, median glands present. |
sepals (3–)4–6.5(–8) × 1.5–2 mm; petals deep yellow to yellow, obovate, 6–11(–13) × (2.5–)3–6(–7) mm, claw 3–7 mm, apex rounded; filaments 4–6(–7) mm; anthers 1.5–2 mm. |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Fruiting pedicels | erect, spreading, ascending or divaricately-ascending, often slender. |
ascending to spreading, (5–)10–25(–30) mm. |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Fruits | siliques, dehiscent, sessile or stipitate, segments 2, linear, torulose or smooth, terete, 4-angled, or latiseptate; (terminal segment seedless or 1–3-seeded, usually filiform or conic, rarely cylindrical); valves each prominently 1-veined, glabrous; replum rounded; septum complete; ovules [4–]10–50 per ovary; stigma entire or 2-lobed. |
ascending to somewhat spreading, torulose, terete, (2–)3–8(–11) cm × 2–4(–5) mm; valvular segment with 8–15 seeds per locule, (1.3–)2–5(–7.5) cm, terminal segment seedless, 8–22 mm. |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Seeds | uniseriate, plump, not winged, globose; seed coat (reticulate or reticulate-alveolate), mucilaginous or not when wetted; cotyledons conduplicate. |
black, brown, or reddish, 1.1–2 mm diam.; seed coat very finely reticulate-lightly alveolate, not mucilaginous when wetted. |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
x | = 7, 8, 9, 10, 11. |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
2n | = 20. |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Brassica |
Brassica rapa |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Phenology | Flowering Apr–Sep. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Habitat | Roadsides, disturbed areas and waste places, cultivated fields, grain fields, orchards, gardens | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Elevation | 0-1500 m (0-4900 ft) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Distribution |
sw Europe; sw Asia; e Africa; nw Africa [Introduced in North America; introduced also in Mexico, West Indies, Central America, South America, Atlantic Islands, Pacific Islands (New Zealand), Australia] |
AK; AL; AR; AZ; CA; CO; CT; DC; DE; FL; GA; IA; ID; IL; IN; KS; KY; LA; MA; MD; ME; MI; MN; MO; MS; MT; NC; ND; NE; NH; NJ; NM; NV; NY; OH; OK; OR; PA; RI; SC; SD; TN; TX; UT; VA; VT; WA; WI; WV; WY; AB; BC; MB; NB; NL; NS; NT; ON; PE; QC; SK; YT; Europe; Asia; Africa [Introduced in North America; introduced also in Mexico, West Indies, Central America, South America, Atlantic Islands, Australia]
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Discussion | Species 35 (8 in the flora). Crops of Brassica are the most important economic plants of the family. Probably, the earliest known utilization of mustards dates from Sanskrit records in India to 3000 b.c., but there is archaeological evidence suggesting that cultivation of cabbage in coastal northern Europe was occurring nearly 8000 years ago. Brassica crops include oilseeds, food crops (e.g., B. juncea, Asian vegetables; B. oleracea, cole crops; B. rapa, Chinese cabbages), fodder for animals, and condiments (B. juncea or B. nigra). The latter two species have also been used for medicinal purposes (I. A. Al-Shehbaz 1985). In addition to being noxious weeds, some species of Brassica are harmful or poisonous to humans and livestock (Al-Shehbaz). Historically, native peoples of North America have used a number of “wild” Brassica species for both food and medicinal purposes (T. Arnason et al. 1981; H. A. Jacobson et al. 1988): Brassica species—young shoots cooked as greens by Iroquois and Malecite Indian tribes; B. nigra—seeds ground and used as snuff to cure head colds by the Meskwaki, and leaves used to relieve toothaches and headaches by the Mohegans; B. napus—bark used to treat colds, cough, grippe, and smallpox by the Micmac, and used for chilblains by the Rappahannock; B. oleracea—used for headaches by the Rappahannock; and B. rapa—used as medicine by the Bois Fort Chippewa. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Brassica rapa is widely cultivated as an oil crop and vegetable, and cultivars, especially in Asia, have been recognized as species, subspecies, and varieties. The most important crops include: rapeseed or canola, turnip (subsp. rapa), Chinese mustard or pakchoi [subsp. chinensis (Linnaeus) Hanelt], and Chinese cabbage or petsai [subsp. pekinensis (Loureiro) Hanelt]. The species is also a widespread naturalized weed [subsp. sylvestris (Linnaeus) Janchen] throughout temperate North America and elsewhere. It is self-incompatible. Hybridization in the field in Europe has been described between B. napus and B. rapa (R. B. Jørgensen and B. Andersen 1994). (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Key |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Source | FNA vol. 7, p. 419. | FNA vol. 7, p. 423. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Parent taxa | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Synonyms | B. campestris, B. campestris var. oleifera, B. chinensis, B. pekinensis, B. rapa subsp. chinensis, B. rapa subsp. pekinensis, Sinapis pekinensis | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Name authority | Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 2: 666. (1753): Gen. Pl. ed. 5, 299. (1754) | Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 2: 666. (1753) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Web links |
|