Question

Which plant is described by these clues? Its genus name was taken whole from classical Latin, where it was the everyday word for the leafy cole crops of Roman kitchen gardens. Four {petals} stand opposite one another in a cross above six {stamens} set in two uneven ranks, four tall and two short. Each ripening pod sheds its two side walls from the base upward and leaves a translucent papery {replum} standing in a persistent frame. Its upper stem leaves sit stalkless on the stem and clasp it from behind with rounded {auricle} lobes. Bruise a leaf or bite the raw root and sulfurous {glucosinolate} breakdown products catch at the nose and tongue. It is the diploid A-genome corner of the celebrated triangle in which three parent species of its genus combined in pairs to make three more. Left to run a second season it throws up a {raceme} of pale yellow flowers 2 to 4 feet (60 to 120 cm) tall, its open blooms riding level with or above the still-closed buds at the tip. Its species epithet is simply the old Latin noun for the fat edible globe that swells where root meets shoot. That globe is mostly swollen {hypocotyl} above the true {taproot}, sweetest at 2 to 3 inches (5 to 8 cm) across and turning pithy and hollow if left to grow larger. Bok choy, mizuna, komatsuna and broccoli raab are not its relatives but the very same species wearing different clothes. Rome grew its swollen root as a staple and medieval Europe wintered its livestock on it, while this scarlet-skinned, white-fleshed Japanese salad selection is pulled young and eaten raw.

Accepted Answer

Brassica rapa 'Scarlet Queen'

Name That Plant #120