Brassica napus Seeds | Rapeseed
LATIN NAME: Brassica napus
COMMON NAME: Rapeseed
Plant Profile
Rapeseed (Brassica napus) grows as an annual in the cabbage family. Rapeseed is bright yellow field of cool spring, and four-petalled flowers cover crop in great, golden sheets. Upright, branching, annual or biennial plant carries blue-green leaves and clusters of four-petalled, bright-yellow flowers through spring, to be followed by long, narrow pods of small, round, dark seeds. Seeds have a long record as oil crop of cool fields, and plant is a fine, generous presence of field and vegetable garden. For the gardener, the sum of these traits is a plant that is easy to live with.
Science & Biotechnology
Botanists studying the cabbage family regularly include Brassica napus in comparative work, and the species also appears in horticultural trials aimed at gardeners and growers. Species like this one find a second career as research material, especially in propagation and breeding work.
Uses & Benefits
Rapeseed works well in borders, containers and dedicated beds. Rapeseed is a fine, generous plant of cool field and vegetable garden. Small, round, dark seeds have a long record as oil crop of cool fields, pressed into mild, golden oil of kitchen and salad bowl, and young leaves come to table as tender greens of spring garden. A plant that has settled in will get along with only routine care.
The cabbage family is the cornerstone of cancer-prevention nutrition research: glucosinolates in broccoli, kale, mustard and their kin convert to sulforaphane and indole-3-carbinol, compounds studied intensively for their role in cellular defense. Few plant groups have stronger evidence as everyday functional foods.
Growing from Seed
Sow fresh seed of Rapeseed under ordinary good conditions. Fill a pot with a light seed compost, sow evenly on the surface, cover thinly and stand it somewhere warm, bright and evenly moist. Shift the seedlings into small pots as soon as they can be handled, and give them bright light until planting-out time.
Our Take
Among the Brassica group, it is one of the more distinctive species in cultivation. Minor errors in timing or watering rarely cost the grower the crop.
Related Reading
Gardeners who grow Rapeseed often pair it with these related subjects: