Field Mustard / Rapeseed🌼

An annual/biennial in the mustard family, thought to originate from the Mediterranean to Western Asia. Long cultivated for rapeseed oil; now also grown as a landscape plant ('na-no-hana', rape blossoms) and a spring vegetable ('nabana'). The small 4-petaled yellow cruciform flowers cover fields in early spring, making the rape-blossom fields of Chiba and Mie tourist attractions. Naturalized individuals are common along rivers. Taxonomically contiguous with turnip, Chinese cabbage, and komatsuna.

Identification Points

• ✓Yellow 4-petaled (cruciform) flowers in racemes
• ✓Lower leaves pinnate; upper leaves clasping the stem
• ✓40–80 cm tall

Morphological TraitsAI-estimated, needs verification

Phylogenetic Positionアブラナ科 →