2910 



RAPE 



RAPHIA 



(2) for the purpose of furnishing animals with succu- 

 lent feed during late summer and autumn, when pas- 

 tures become bare. Varieties used for the latter pur- 

 pose usually do not produce seed in this climate the 

 same season, though they are usually classed with 

 annuals. Dwarf Essex is an example of the kind used 

 for soiling (green feeding) purposes. Rape is of con- 

 siderable importance to the fruit-grower as a cover-crop. 

 The seed germinates readily, wul often grow where a 

 clover catch is impossible, and furnishes excellent sheep 

 pasturage late in the season. When grown strictly as a 



soiling plant, the tops 

 are cut and hauled 

 to the feed-lot or 

 stable. Dwarf Essex 

 rape much resembles 

 a rutabaga turnip at 

 first. It is like a ruta- 

 baga with an exag- 

 gerated leafy top and 



3345. Dwarf Essex rape. 



without a swollen 

 fleshy root. Rape is 

 a cool-weather plant 

 and may be grown in 

 almost any part of the 

 United States by sow- 

 ing it at the proper 

 time. As a cover-crop 

 in the orchard in the East it may be sown as late as 

 September 15 with good results. It is an excellent 

 pioneer plant in the work of renewing humus in worn- 

 out lands. In the Middle West, where shade is needed, 

 rape is used as a nurse plant for clover when the latter 

 is sown in orchards in midsummer. Turnips may be 

 used for the same purpose. JOHN CRAIG 



RAPHANUS (classical name, from the Greek). Some- 

 times spelled Rhdphanus. Crudferas. Annual or bien- 

 nial branching herbs, one of which, R. sativus, is the 

 radish (which see). 



Leaves various and variable, the radical and some- 

 times the cauline lyrate-pinnatifid: fls. small but rather 

 showy, slender-pedicelled, in open terminal racemes, 

 rose-lilac or white, or in some species yellow; sepals 

 erect, the lateral ones somewhat saccate or pouch-like 

 at base; stamens 6, free: pod a long-cylindrical fleshy 

 or soft-corky silique, with spongy tissue between the 

 globose seeds, indehiscent. About 10 species in Eu. 

 and Temp. Asia. The genus is divided into two natural 

 groups, one (Raphanistrum) with the pod longitu- 

 dinally grooved and constricted between the seeds, the 

 other (Raphanus proper) with the pod not grooved nor 

 prominently constricted. To the former group belongs 

 R. Raphanistrum, Linn., the JOINTED or WHITE CHAR- 

 LOCK (sometimes, but erroneously, known as RAPE). 

 It is an Old-World annual weed, now naturalized in 

 fields arid waste places in the easternmost states. It is 

 an erect sparsely hairy herb, with slender tap-root 

 and radish-like Ivs., growing 2-3 Y^ ft. high: fls. rather 

 showy, yellowish, turning white or purplish: silique 1-3 

 in. long, few-seeded, with a long beak. It is from this 

 species that Carriere produced radishes by means of 

 plant-breeding (see Radish). To the second section 

 belongs R. sativus, Linn., the RADISH, considered to 

 be native to Eu. and Asia, but imperfectly known in 

 an aboriginal wild state. It is usually annual, although 

 commonly spoken of as biennial because the roots can 

 be kept over winter and planted the following spring. 

 The winter radishes are truly biennial in northern 

 climates. Radish has pink-lilac or nearly white fls., 

 and short thick spongy taper-pointed pods. Some- 

 times it runs wild in waste places, and then bears a 

 long hard tap-root like that of R. Raphanistrum. The 

 radish is extensively cultivated for its thick root, which 

 has been developed into many shapes and colors. 

 There are Chinese types of radish that have hard roots 



little more than 1 in. diam., and sometimes becoming 

 nearly 1 ft. long. Some forms are scarcely distinguish- 

 able from short turnips. The Madras radish (India) is 

 grown for its soft tender pods, which are eaten raw 

 or in pickles. The rat-tailed or serpent radish, var. 

 caudatus (R. caudatus, Linn.), has enormously long 

 pods (see Fig. 3346), which are eaten either pickled, or 

 raw as are radish roots. Frequently the pods are 1 ft. 

 long. The root is slender and hard. This is a cultural 

 variety, coming true from seed. L g g 



RAPHIA (Greek, needle, referring to the fact that 

 the fr. ends in a noticeable point). Palmacex. Mono- 

 carpic palms unarmed or with the sheaths only armed: 

 sts. erect, simple or dichotomously branched, densely 

 annulate: Ivs. in a terminal crown, equally pinnatisect; 

 Ifts. linear-lanceolate, acuminate, rachis not produced 

 at the apex: spadices monoecious, large, pendulous, 

 cylindrical, much-branched; the branches and branch- 

 lets thick, compressed, the latter pectinately arranged, 

 densely covered with cup-shaped bracts; common 

 spathe none: fls. solitary in each bract, the male at the 

 base of the ultimate branches of the spadix, the female 

 at the apex; calyx tubular, entire or minutely toothed; 

 corolla curved, the petals 3, linear-lanceolate, valvate; 

 stamens 6-16: fr. large, oblong or ellipsoid, rostrate, 

 1-seeded. About 15 species, Trop. Afr. and the Mas- 

 carene Isls., 1 in Trop. Amer. R. Gentiliana, Wildem. 

 Lvs. pinnate, furnished with small prickles: infl. dense, 

 pendent, nearly 3 ft. long with flattened branches, the 

 principal rachis of the branches with imbricate bracts: 

 fr. pyriform, apiculate, 2-2}^ in. long, with 9-10 rows 



of fringed scales. Congo. R. Laurentii, Wildem. 

 Trunk up to 6 ft. : Ivs. 15-40 ft. long; rachis subcylindri- 



cal, about 3 in. thick, grooved; Ifts. irregularly dis- 

 posed, linear, up to 5% ft- long and 2 in. broad, acute, 



with short blackish 



spines : infl. com- 

 pact, branched, 



more than 3 ft. long : 



fr. ovoid, about 2 



in. long, short- 



peduncled, with 12 



rows of scales. 



Congo. R. B. 32, 



pp. 14-16. R. Riiffia, 



Mart. RAFFIA or 



ROFFIA PALM. 



Trunk 6-26 ft. high: 



Ivs. up to 65 ft. long, 



petiole up to 13 ft. 



long, nearly 1 in. 



thick: fr. obovate 



or pyriform, some- 

 what depressed and 



mucronate at the 



apex, 12-15 rows of 



very convex scales. 



Trop. Afr. and 



Madagascar. R. 



taedigera, Mart. 



Trunk 6-8 ft. high: 



Ivs. 50 ft. or more 



long, bending out 



and often forming 



a graceful plume 70 



ft. high and 40 ft. 



diam. : fr. oblong, 



2^/2 in. long, reticu- 

 lated with large 



scales. Amazon. 



Probably also pro- 

 duces raffia. R.vini- 



fera, Beauv. BAM- 3346 R^,^ radish ._ Raphanus 



BOO or WINE PALM. sativus var . caudatus . Grown for its 



1 runk or medium enormous pods. ( x M) 



