Rape
Family Cruciferae (or Brassicaceae)
Brassica napus, rape (B. napus 1), is a much branched erect annual or biennial, with deeply lobed, grass green and bristly lower leaves, and less deeply lobed bluish-green upper leaves. The top leaves are unlobed and clasping the stem. The yellow flowers are borne in a raceme like inflorescence, each flower with 4 sepals and petals and 6 stamens (B. napus 2). The fruit is a brown capsule, up to 10 cm long, that opens by 2 valves, and containing dark coloured seeds.
Use
In the Mediterranean region rape is grown since time immemorial. Today it is grown in Europe as a fodder for livestock and for its seeds, which yield rape oil. This oil is used for the manufacture of margarine and soap, and in lubricants. It is also used for greasing loaves of bread before baking. Rape is also known as cooleseed.
Biggest producers of rape oil are China, India, Japan, Russia, Sweden and France. In the Netherlands rape was cultivated intensively in the new polders during the first years after reclaiming (B. napus 3), (B. napus 4).
The variety Brassica napus var. napobrassica, sometimes referred to as a distinct species, Brassica napobrassica, swedes (B. napus 5), (B. napus 6), is a comparatively new vegetable, believed to have originated from a hybrid between Brassica oleracea and Brassica rapa in the 17th century. It is a biennial, bluish-green in colour, with a fleshy tuberized stem-base, violet, white or yellowish in colour. They are eaten as a boiled vegetable and used for feeding livestock.