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Wild Turnip |
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| Nomenclature |
Species name: |
Brassica rapa subsp. sylvestris (L.) Lam & Janchen |
Author(s): |
Carl von Linné;
Sweden, 1707-1778
Jean Baptiste A. P. de Monnet de Lamarck;
France, 1744-1829
Erwin Emil Alfred Janchen;
Austria, 1882-1970
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General names: |
Wild Turnip, Bargemann's Cabbage |
Maltese name: |
Liftija |
Plant Family: |
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Name Derivation: |
Brassica = Cabbage (Latin)
rapa subsp. sylvestris = Turnip (Latin); Sylvestris means wild (Latin) |
Synonyms: |
Brassica campestris, Brassica rapa ssp. campestris |
Remarks: |
-
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| Botanical Data |
PLANT STRUCTURE: |
Characteristic | Growth Form | Branching | Surface |
Description | Erect : Upright, vertically straight up well clear off the ground. | Moderately Branched : Considerable number of secondary branches along the main stem. | Pubescent : Covered with soft short hairs often pointing downwards. |
General
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LEAVES: |
Characteristic | Arrangement | Attachment | Venation |
Description | Alternate : Growing at different positions along the stem axis. | Stalked / Petiolate : Hanging out by a slender leaf-stalk. Young leaves are sessile with a sagittate base embracing the stem. | Pinnate venation : Lateral veins which diverge from the midrib towards the leaf marhins. |
General
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Characteristic | Leaf Shape | Leaf Margin | Remarks |
Description | Ovate : Oval shape, similar to an egg shape thus having a fairly broad centre and rounded ends. | Serrate : Sharp pointed teeth, oblique (inclined) to the margin, pointing apically like a saw. | Sagittate : Leaf base has two pointed lobes resembling the base of an arrrow. (referring to the upper, cauline leaves only). |
General
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FLOWERS: |
Characteristic | Colour | Basic Flower Type | No. of Petals | No. of Sepals |
Description | Bright Yellow | Cruciform : A flower with four petals at right angles to each other forming a shape of a cross. | 4 | 4 |
General
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Characteristic | Inflorescence | Description | Ovary | Stamens |
Description | Raceme : Simple, elongated, indeterminate cluster with stalked flowers. | Flower consists of 4 oval, non-overlapping yellow petals arranged diagonally to each other, 6 stamens and a central pistil with swollen stigma. | Superior : Ovary situated above the flower parts (the calyx, corolla, and androecium). In other words, these are attached below the ovary. | 6, Tetradynamous : Having four long stamens (located centrally) and two shorter ones (located laterally). |
General
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Characteristic | Scent | Average Flower Size | Pollen Colour | Other Notes |
Description | YES Faint sweet smell can sometimes be detected. | 12-14mm | Yellow | - |
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SEEDS: |
Characteristic | No. Per Fruit | Shape | Size | Colour |
Description | 25-35 | Globular Spherical shape, like a small bead. | 2-3mm | Dark greyish-brown colour (Sometimes, seeds have few pale specs). |
General
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FRUIT AND OTHER BOTANICAL DATA: |
Characteristic | Fruit Type | Colour of Fruit | Subterranean Parts | Other Notes |
Description | Siliqua : A dry dehiscent pod-like fruit which is longer, often many times than broad, so having the shape of an elongated pouch. | Green Turns light brown when fruit is ripe. | Taproot : A rooting system where there is the main descending root of a plant having a single dominant large structure from which a network of smaller and long roots emerge. | - |
General
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| Plant Description |
Life Cycle: | Annual |
Habitat: | Weedy places in fields, wasteland and sometimes in traffic islands and gardens. |
Frequency: | Common |
Sources in Malta: | Common in uncropped fields such as at Buskett, Mtarfa, Mistra and Ghajn Tuffieha to mention a few examples. |
Plant Height: | 30-60cm. |
| Nov - Apr |
Poison: | Adult plants may contain Glucosinolates which are poisonous. |
The plant consist of an erect stem up to 60 cm long with many sub-branching stems which continues to a terminal raceme inflorescence. The stem has some white/grey bristly hair along and the base gets tougher and a reddish-brown colour.
The young and adult leaves have different shapes. The basal adult leaves are stalked, ovoid with an irregularly serrated outline, while the young cauline leaves are smaller, sessile with basal auricles embracing the stem, less serrated outline, and are more elongated. 
Flowers are made up of 4 diagonally arranged yellow petals, with 6 tetradynamous stamens (which means 4 central stamens with long filaments, plus 2 lateral and shorter) and a central superior green ovary with a single style and swollen stigma. The flower also has 4 green sepals which are spread out horizontally (perpendicular to stem axis)
The fruit are found in stacks below the infloresences. They are stalked elongated pods called siliqua which become the seed pods of the plant. The siliqua can reach up to 50mm in length, has a pointed beak and its body is slightly bulging with the seeds inside. When the seeds are mature, the siliqua splits up open with a sudden twist of the outside walls and so expels the seeds inside at a further distance. A translucent central wall remains after dispersion. The small seeds are quite spherical in shape, and brown in colour.
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| Additional Information |
Personal observations
Dispersion
Dispersion of seeds is by sudden outwards twisting of the 2 outer walls (valves) forming the siliqua [SM]
Confusion in Maltese names
This plant is usually found growing with another white flowered Crucifer - the Diplotaxis erucoides (White wall rocket) Usually the white species grows more abundantly. The flower and plant morphology are quite similar, except the flower colour. The white species is called "gargir abjad" (white 'gargir'). There is another yellow-flowered crucifer species called "gargir isfar" (yellow 'gargir') which its species name is Diplotaxis tenuifolia. One could easy mistake the Maltese names when seeing the two populations of the yellow B. rapa silvestris mixed with the white D. erucoides growing close together and assume that both are gargir, one is white (gargir abjad) and the other is yellow (gargir isfar). B. rapa subsp silvestris is called "liftija" in Maltese and should not be mixed with "gargir isfar". [SM] .
Comparison with Diplotaxis tenuifolia
In Malta there is another Cruciferae plant which is very similar to the Wild Turnip and more abundant. This is called the Perennial Wall Rocket - Diplotaxis tenuifolia). The perennial wall rocket can be easily mistaken for the Wild Turnip at first glance because the yellow flowers and slender fruit pods are very similar. The main differences are the leaves, size of the plant, size of the flower and sepals as indicated in the table below: [SM]
| Feature |
Brassica rapa subsp. silvestris |
Diplotaxis tenuifolia |
| Leaves |
Large, ovoid, serrated and hairy. Furthermore, young leaves have base lobes which embrace the stem |
Smaller, deeply dented, elongated, glabrous, no embracing lobes |
| Sepals |
Few mm below flower, long, perpendicular to stem |
Small, cup shaped near to flower |
| Flower Size |
13mm average |
slightly larger, 16mm average |
| Apical beak of seed pod |
Long |
Very short |
Not much more information (such as uses) has been found about this plant both on books and on the internet. If you can supply further info please to be included here please do not hesitate to email me. Full reference credits will be given.
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