104 sturtevant's notes on edible plants 



Vulgare rapum alterum. Trag. 729. 1532. 



Rapum longum. Cam. Epit. 2ig. 1586. 



Rapum tereti, rotunda, oblongaqtie radici. Lob. /com. i: 197. iS9i' 



Rapum oblongius. Dod. 673. 161 6. 



Rapum sativum rotundum et oblongum. Bauh. J. 2:838. 1651. 



Rapa, La Rave. Tourn. 113. 1719. 



Navet de Briollay. Vilm. 372. 1883. 



This account by no means embraces all the tiimips now known, as it deals with form 

 only and not with color and habits. In 1828, 13 kinds were in Thorbum's American Seed 

 Catalog and in 1887, 33 kinds. In France, 12 kinds were named by Pirolle in 1824 and 

 by Petit in 1826. In 1887, Vilmorin's Wholesale Seed-list enumerates 31 kinds. 



S 

 Rape. 



Bentham ' classes rape with B. campestris Linn, and others are disposed to include 

 it as an agrarian form of B. oleracea Linn. Darwin ^ says B. napus Linn., in which he places 

 rape, " h.as given rise to two large groups, namely Swedish turnips (by some believed to be 

 of hybrid origin) and colzas, the seeds of which yield oil. " It can be believed quite rationally 

 that the Swedish turnip may have originated in its varieties from B. campestris and from 

 hybridization with B. napus. To this species, Lindley refers some of the rapes, or coles, 

 the navette, navette d'hiver, or rabette of the French, and the repo, ruben or winter reps of 

 the Germans, while the summer rapes he refers to B. praecox. Rape is used as an oil 

 plant but is inferior to colza. It is also used in a young state as a salad plant. Of this 

 species there is also a fleshy-rooted variety, the Tetlow turnip, or navet de Berlin petit of 

 the French, the root long and spindle-shaped, somewhat resembling a carrot. Its culture 

 in England dates from 1790 but it was well known in 167 1 and is noticed by Caspar Bauhin 

 in his Pinax. It is much more delicate in flavor than our common turnip. In France 

 and Germany, this Tetlow turnip is extensively cultivated. To what extent our common 

 turnips are indebted to the rapes, seems impossible to say, for Metzger, by culture, con- 

 verted the biennial, or winter rape, into the annual, or summer rape, varieties which 

 Lindley believes to be specifically distinct. The Bon Jardinier ' says, in general, the early 

 turnips of round form and growing above ground belong to B. napus and names the Yellow 

 Malta, Yellow Finland and Montmaquy of our catalogs. 



Summer rape is referred by Lindley to B. praecox Waldst. & Kit. In the east of 

 France, it is called navette d'ete, or navette de mai and by the Germans sommer reps. Some 

 botanists refer summer rape to B. campestris Linn, and winter rape to B. napus Linn. 

 Rape is also referred to B. rapa Linn. The evidence is unusually clear, says Dar%vin,* 

 that rape and the turnip belong to the same species, for the turnip has been observed 

 by Koch and Godron to lose its thick roots in uncultivated soil and when rape and turnips 

 are sown together they cross to such a degree that scarcely a single plant comes true. 

 Summer rape seems to be grown to a far less extent than winter rape. 



' Loudon, J. C. Hort. 627. i860. 



'Darwin, C. Ans. Pis. Domest. 1:344. 1893. 



' Bon Jard. 534, 535. 1882. 



* Darwin, C. Ans. Pis. Domest. 1:344. 1893. 



