of tlie Genus Brassica. 187 



slender, very slightly fleshy, nearly cylindrical, and running 

 to a point at its extremity. It was mentioned, and tolerably 

 described, by ancient authors under the name of Wild Tui-nip. 

 I recognised the same plant in Dauphiny, under that of Na- 

 vette, and I reared fi'om its seeds several individuals resem- 

 bling the figures given by the ancients. We must not con- 

 found the Navette of Dauphiny with the Alsace Navette ; 

 Villars* has described the former under the name of Brassica 

 Napella; but the variety /3, which he has subjoined, appears 

 to me to belong to some other species, which I cannot affirm 

 to be the Colsa, as he mentions that in another article, though 

 he may probably have mistaken it for the Brassica Napus olei- 

 fera, which is the true Navette. This Ravette, or Navette of 

 Dauphiny, distinctly separated from every other kind of olei- 

 ferous Cabbage by its leaves, which are free from glaucous 

 bloom, and covei'ed with strong bristles, is preferred for cul- 

 tivation in the southern valleys of the mountains of Dauphiny, 

 in a soil unfavourable to every other oleaginous cruciferous 

 plant ; it is less productive than the Colsa, but being of a more 

 hardy nature, is useful notwithstanding; the seeds are sown 

 after harvest, and ripen in the month of June following. 



Fourth Species. BRASSICA NAPUS. 



The species to which I give this name, in common with all 

 botanists, though very nearly approaching the Brassica ole- 

 racea and the Brassica campestris, deserves to be separated 

 from each ; it differs from the Brassica oleracea by a thicker 

 root and more slender stalk, by leaves more generally scol- 

 loped to the mid-rib, and particularly by its expanded calyx. 

 It differs from the Brassica campestris, by its glabrous leaves, 

 which are smooth even in their earliest age, and is unlike both 

 in the size of its seeds, which are little more than half that of 

 the others, also by its seed-pod spreading open when ripe, by 

 which it differs equally from every other neighbouring species. 

 It cannot be confounded with the Brassica Rapa, its leaves 

 being both glaucous and smooth ; it is thought to be originally 

 of Europe, but its native soil, like that of every plant that has 

 been cultivated time out of mind, is difficult to ascertain ; we 

 may separate it into two distinct races, on the principle of tlie 

 bhape of the root. 



First Race. Brassica Napis oLEiFEnA. 



Navette. Rape. 



The oleiferous Navette is what is termed in all the northern 



provinces of France, Navette, Navette (VhixH-r, and Uahcttc ; 



* Villars llidobc (ha Planlcs dc Dfiiij>/iim'; vol. iii. page 3.^4. 



A a 2 in 



