West Highland Flora

Rape, Turnip, Cabbage etc

Brassica, section Brassica

Includes B oleracea (Cabbage), B napus (Rape, Swede) and B rapa (Turnip).  They are escapes from cultivation and include many cultivars.  They are difficult to tell apart and as none are native to the area it is not worth distinguishing them here.

Brassica oleracea agg

Photo © Carl Farmer
31 Aug 2002 Portree, Skye

Occasional casuals on waste ground, not persisting.

Flower diameter c 15-30 mm

ID: Tall straggly plant looking like a garden vegetable gone to seed, yellow flowers with four petals.  Upper leaves clasping the stem which fits into a notch between the leaf's base lobes.

Other features: Pod with a beak about 1/10 to 1/3 of the pod's overall length.  Leaf-shape varies between species.

 

Brassica oleracea agg

Photo © Carl Farmer
23 Nov 2002 Portree, Skye
 
Pods

 

Brassica oleracea agg

Photo © Carl Farmer
24 June 2003 Glenbrittle, Skye
Leaf from near base, 7 cm long

   Brassica oleracea agg

Photo © Carl Farmer
24 June 2003 Glenbrittle, Skye
Leaf from mid-stem, 3.6 cm long

 

Brassica oleracea agg

Photo © Carl Farmer
24 June 2003 Glenbrittle, Skye
Open flower just R of centre above large gap, 20 mm across
 

Back to species list