D.E.P., 

 i., 521-2, 

 530-2. 

 Black and 

 White 

 Mustard. 



D.E.P., 

 i., 522-8. 



BRASSICA 



CAMPESTRIS MUSTAED AND KAPE 



Indian Colza 



" (3) That Tori (B. xapus, uar. tUvhatonm) seems to be the same plant as 

 a. jn-ieeox (Summer-rape), or if not the same is at least very like and very 

 near it, and is undoubtedly the plant that in India takes the place of a. IH-WCOJC 

 and of B. \(!]>HH, uar. olelfera " (Prain, I.e. 78). 



With these introductory and explanatory observations it may now be de- 

 sirable to discuss the chief Indian forms in alphabetical sequence of their scientific 

 names : 



B. alba, H., f., & T. 5 Duthie and Fuller, Field and Garden Crops, 

 pt. ii., 34 ; Prain, I.e. 9-10. White Mustard ; also B. nigra, Koch. 

 Black or True Mustard. These two species, if met with at all in India, 

 occur in gardens only within the temperate areas or in Upper India during 

 the winter months. They are nowhere field crops, nor do they contribute 

 in any way to the Indian supplies of Mustard or Oil. 



/. INDIAN FORMS OF SARSON AND RAPE. 



B. eampestris, Linn. ; Prain, I.e. 22-44, 46. 



From the standpoint of commerce it is a matter of supreme indifference 

 whether catnpeHtrie, Xaints. and i-Hi>n be treated as separate species or sub- 

 species of one and the same species. The European cultivated races of the 

 assemblage may be grouped as follows : oieifera, the Colza ; Xiiito-brituHica, 

 the Swedish Turnip and Rutabaga ; XaintH the Rape, and Ratio, the True 

 Turnip. The turnip or shalgham is extensively cultivated in India as a cold- 

 season crop. The Brahmans and Baniyas are said to have a prejudice against 

 it. In no part of India are either the Swedish or True Turnips grown as field 

 crops intended to feed cattle. Prain had sent to him from Chittagong, 

 seed of a mustard that proved on cultivation to be almost identical with the 

 European Colza. From Sikkim and Bhutan he procured seed of a plant that 

 turned out to be . Xnpus, uar. enenientti, DC., the Sweet Navet. 



The following are the chief varieties and races : 



Indian Colza OP S arson ; Sinapis glauca, Roxb., Fl. Ind., iii., 

 118, also S. trilocularis, Roxb., I.e. 121 ; B. campestris subsp. Napus, 

 FL Br. Ind., i., 156 (in part); B. campestris, subsp. Napus, var. trilocularis, 

 also quadrivalvis, Duthie and Fuller, Field and Garden Crops, pt. ii., 28-9 ; 

 B. campestris, subsp. Napus, var. glauca, Watt, I.e. ; B. campestris, Linn., 

 subsp. campestris, var. Sarson, Prain, I.e. 24-35, 46, 77-8. 



Prain (I.e. 77) says the plant thus briefly indicated " occurs in every 

 province of Bengal except Chittagong, where it is replaced by a different mustard. 

 It is easily distinguished from Rai by its stem-clasping leaves, and from Tori 

 by the greater amount of " bloom " on its foliage, by its taller stature, its more 

 rigid habit, and its thicker, plumper pods. When reaped the seeds are distin- 

 guished .by their usually white colour ; when brown the seeds are distinguished 

 readily from those of Rai by the larger size and the smooth seed-coat ; from 

 those of Tori by their being of a lighter brown, and by not having a paler spot 

 at the base of the seed." 



" There are two races one with erect pods, the Natwa Sarson or Saraon 

 proper, and one with pendent pods, the Ulti or Tiro Sarson. Each race has 

 two distinct subraces one with 2-valved, the other with 3-4-valved pods." 



" The forms with hanging pods are not common except in North Bengal 

 and East Tirhut (Purnea), the subrace with 2-valved pods being almost con- 

 fined to this area. But the 4-valved kind extends sparingly through Western 

 Tirhut, and crossing the Ganges spreads southwards through South- West Bihar 

 and Western Chota Nagpur." 



" The forms with erect pods practically occur everywhere : the 2-valved 

 subrace, however, is little known in Bihar, though it is grown both in Shahabad 

 to the south-west and Monghyr to the south-east. It extends over the whole 

 of Chota Nagpur and over Orissa and West, Central and East Bengal. The 

 4-valved subrace occupies West Tirhut and West Bihar, extending thence sparingly 

 through South-East Bihar and along the dry parts of West Bengal, as far south 

 as Midnapore. It also occupies North Bengal and the northern part of East 

 Bengal (Mymensingh), to the exclusion of the 2-valved subrace. Roughly 



17G 



D.E.P., 

 i., 524. 

 Sarson. 



Distinctive 

 Features. 



Distribution. 



