136 ENGLISH BOTANY. 
A straggler in cultivated ground, usually the remains of a field 
of turnips. 
[ England, Scotland, Ireland.] Annual or Biennial. 
Spring, Summer. 
Only to be distinguished from the last by the radical leaves 
being green instead of glaucous, and a greater number of the stem 
leaves lyrate-pinnatifid. 
I can find no satisfactory characters for separating this plant 
from B. campestris and B. Napus. All three have both an annual 
form cultivated for the oily seeds, and also a biennial form yielding 
an esculent root, though B. Napus is hardly known in this country 
in the latter state. B. campestris is the only one which can be 
considered at all well established. The lower leaves in the wild 
plant of B. campestris are only hispid upon the midrib. ‘The shape 
of the stem leaves, the direction of the pod, the size of the flower, 
and the direction of the stamens, which have been considered as 
affording distinguishing characters, are all inconstant, so that I 
feel compelled to unite the three under one species, to which I 
give the name polymorpha in preference to B. campestris, as that 
name has been applied exclusively to the form with glabrous (not 
hispid) radical leaves, although I believe that form to be parent 
of the other two. 
The Turnip. 
French, Chow a Feuilles Rudes. German, Der Riiben Kohl. 
The Turnip, like the cabbage, is highly susceptible of change under the influence 
of cultivation. Although the forms assumed by cultivated plants are not recognized 
by the systematic botanist, they are nevertheless of the highest interest to the vegetable 
physiologist. In cultivation the Turnip assumes three principal forms. They are as 
follows :— 
B. Rapa depressa.—Round Turnip. French, Vavet ronde, or Rave plate ; German, 
Die runde Kiibe. The root is tumid under the neck, globose, depressed, and ending 
abruptly in a slender tail. The White, Yellow, Black, Red, Green, and Early Dutch 
Turnips are forms of this variety known to the farmer and gardener. 
B. Rapa oblonga.—The Tankard or Decanter Turnip. The root is large and 
oblong, and white, red, and green forms are cultivated. 
B. Rapa oleifera.—The Oil-bearing Turnip. It is the Vavette of Dauphiny, where 
it is cultivated for the sake of its seed. It is less productive than the rape or colza, 
but it grows on less favourable soils. 
As an agricultural plant much might be written on the Turnip, and it has formed 
the subject of many a volume devoted to the progress of modern husbandry, and we 
find lengthy instructions given as to the mode of sowing, choice of seed, preparation of 
the soil, and preservation of the crop. Into these particulars we can scarcely enter 
here, but must refer our readers to such works as Don’s “ Gardener’s Dictionary,” or 
the “Cyclopedia of Agriculture.” Under the name of Vavette the Turnip is cultivated 
for its seed in the South of France as an oil plant, being considered nearly as productive 
as colza, and far more hardy. ‘The oil obtained from the seed is sold with that of 
rape, cabbage, and the true colza, and used for the like purposes. The Turnip is said 
