Brassica rapa (Bird-Rape) - photos and description
Upper stem leaf in above photo.
Leaf mid-stem in above photo.
Origin: Introduced.
General: Annual plants with an erect growth habit, glaucous and glabrous (or nearly so).
Flowers: Flowers bright yellow growing in terminal clusters and from leaf axils We measured a flower petal at 7 mm long and a flower at 15 mm long.
Leaves: Leaves alternate, are reduced upwards. Upper leaves oblong, clasping, sessile, have auricles, irregularly toothed. We measured an upper leaf at 55 mm long by 16 mm wide. Lower leaves have petioles, are lyrate-pinnatifid, the large end lobe is egg-shaped. We measured a lower leaf at 90 mm long by 58 mm wide.
Fruit: Pods are spreading, pedicels more slender than their pods. We measured a pod at 32 mm long by 2 mm wide, its pedicel (stalk) was 18 mm long, and its beak was 5 mm long.
Height: Height listed in Budd's Flora to 80 cm, we measured plants to 62 cm tall.
Habitat: Fields, waste ground.
Abundance: Common.
Synonym: Listed in some of the field guides we use as Brassica campestris.
How to identify this plant: 1) Glaucous and glabrous 2) upper leaves clasp the stem and have auricles. Similar species Brassica juncea is also glabrous and glaucous, however its upper leaves to not clasp the stem and do not have auricles.
When and where photographed: Photos taken July 29th, edge of wheat field, about 10 km southeast of our home of Regina, SK.