Brassica napus
Brassica elongata
canola, oilseed rape, rape, rapeseed, rutabaga, swede, swede rape, Swedish turnip, turnip, turnip mustard, winter rape
elongated mustard
branched distally, 3–13 dm.
(several from base), branched basally, 5–10 dm, (usually glabrous, rarely sparsely hirsute).
(rosulate when biennial);
petiole (often winged), to 15 cm;
blade lyrate-pinnatifid, ± pinnately lobed, 5–25(–40) cm × 20–70(–100) mm, lobes 0–6 each side, (smaller than terminal), surfaces (glaucous), glabrous or sparsely hairy when immature, glabrescent, or, rarely, pubescent.
blade (usually bright green), obovate to elliptic (not lobed), (3–)5–20(–30) cm × (5–)10–35(–60) mm, (base cuneate), margins subentire to dentate, (surfaces glabrous or often with trichomes minute, tubercled-based, curved, coarse).
(middle and distal) sessile;
blade base auriculate or amplexicaul, (margins entire).
(distal) shortly petiolate;
blade (oblong or lanceolate, to 10 cm) base not auriculate or amplexicaul.
not paniculately branched, (buds overtopping or equal to open flowers).
paniculately branched.
sepals (5–)6–10 × 1.5–2.5 mm;
petals golden or creamy to pale yellow, broadly obovate, 10–16 × (5–)6–9(–10) mm, claw 5–9 mm, apex rounded;
filaments (5–)7–10 mm;
anthers 1.5–2.5 mm.
sepals 3–4(–4.5) × 1–1.5 mm;
petals bright yellow to orange-yellow, obovate, (5–)7–10 × 2.5–3.5(–4) mm, claw 2.5–4 mm, apex rounded;
filaments 3.5–4.5 mm;
anthers 1–1.5 mm;
gynophore 1.5–4(–5) mm in fruit.
spreading to ascending (slender), 1–3 cm.
spreading to divaricately ascending, (6–)8–18 mm.
spreading to ascending, smooth or slightly torulose, terete, (3.5–)5–10(–11) cm × (2.5–)3.5–5 mm;
valvular segment with 12–20(–30) seeds per locule, (3–)4–8.5(–9.5) cm, terminal segment usually seedless, rarely 1 or 2-seeded (attenuate-conic, thin), (5–)9–16 mm.
(stipitate), spreading to ascending (not appressed to rachis), torulose, terete, (1.5–)2–4(–4.8) cm × (1–)1.5–2 mm;
valvular segment with (2–)5–11(–13) seeds per locule, (1.2–)1.6–4(–4.5) cm, terminal segment seedless, 0.5–2.5(–3) mm.
dark brown to black, light brown, or reddish, 1.8–2.7(–3) mm diam.;
seed coat finely reticulate-alveolate, not mucilaginous when wetted.
grey to brown, 1–1.6 mm diam.;
seed coat reticulate, mucilaginous when wetted.
= 38.
= 22.
Brassica napus
Brassica elongata
Brassica napus is both a crop and a sporadically occurring naturalized weed in North America, grown in two forms recognized by some as subspecies. Subspecies napus (rape, rapeseed, or canola) is an annual with slender roots widely cultivated as an oil crop and is the most commonly naturalized. Subspecies rapifera Metzger [= subsp. napobrassica (Linnaeus) Hanelt] (rutabaga, swede, or Swedish turnip) is a biennial with fleshy roots that rarely escapes from cultivation.
Although Brassica napus has been reported as a weed from most southeastern states, it is very likely that most reports represent misidentifications of B. rapa (I. A. Al-Shehbaz 1985). It is difficult to distinguish between plants of B. napus and B. rapa that lack flowers and proximal leaves.
Brassica napus is an allotetraploid derived from hybridization between the B. oleracea complex (n = 9) and B. rapa (n = 10). Its center of origin is uncertain but likely Mediterranean Europe, with molecular data supporting evidence of multiple independent origins between the parental taxa B. oleracea and B. rapa and its related n = 9 species (Song K. et al. 1993). Specimens from West Virginia have not been observed.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
The earliest North American collections of Brassica elongata were from ballast at Linnton, near Portland, Oregon, in 1911, and from a garden in Bingen, Klickitat County, Washington, in 1915. The species does not appear to have persisted at, or spread from, either location (R. C. Rollins and I. A. Al-Shehbaz 1986). It was next collected in 1968 from east-central Nevada, where it is now well-established in Eureka and White Pine counties, and just into Lander County, and spreading rapidly along both roadsides and adjacent high desert (Rollins 1980; Rollins and Al-Shehbaz; Rollins 1993). The semiarid region of North America appears to be a well-suited habitat for B. elongata and the species appears destined to become a permanent part of the flora of the Intermountain Basin (Rollins and Al-Shehbaz).
According to R. C. Rollins (1980), the Nevada plants belong to subsp. integrifolia (Boissier) Breistroffer, but the species is so variable that dividing it into infraspecific taxa is not practical.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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