Leaf
Mathieu Menand, Tela Botanica · CC BY-SA 2.0
Turnip
Brassica rapa L.
Family: Brassicaceae
20 to 40 cm as a rosette, up to 1 m in flower
Grown in vegetable gardens, moist, light soils
Flowering: April – June if bolted
Full sun
Fairly hardy, tolerates light frosts
❓ How do you recognise this plant?
Before the potato arrived in Europe, the turnip was one of the staple root vegetables of the common diet.
🍃 Leaves
Rough, cut, bright green, in a rosette
🌸 Flowers
Yellow, with 4 petals in a cross, grouped in racemes
🍎 Fruits
Elongated siliqua containing several seeds
🪵 Bark
Swollen taproot, white with a purplish collar depending on variety
🗺️ Distribution
Grown throughout France, one of the oldest root vegetables grown in Europe
🐝 Value for pollinators
Nectar-rich flowers, much visited by bees when the plant bolts
✂️ Horticultural uses
Fast-growing root vegetable for the vegetable garden, also grown as fodder
⚠️ Possible toxicity
No known toxicity — root and young leaves edible
🌿 Other Brassicaceae to discover
ℹ️ Educational profile — do not use it to judge whether a plant is edible or safe.
🌱 This database is constantly evolving — species and information are added and corrected regularly. Spotted a mistake? Report it below.
© Floraneo — profile content is protected; reproduction without permission is prohibited. Photos remain under their own licence (see the credit shown on each photo).