Key to Brassica

View taxon page for Brassica

(For a list of species in Brassica, use the above link.)

Jepson Manual glossary definitions can be seen by moving your cursor over words underlined with dots.

1. Distal cauline leaves 

sessile 

Without a petiole, peduncle, pedicel, or other kind of stalk.

, base lobed or clasping

2. Leaves fleshy; petals (1.5)1.8–2.5(3) cm; terminal fruit segment (3)4–11 mm ..... B. oleracea

2' Leaves not fleshy; petals 0.5–1.6 cm; terminal fruit segment (5)9–22 mm

3. Petals 10–16 mm; flowers not overtopping 

buds 

1. An incompletely developed, more or less embryonic shoot, usually covered with bud scales. 2. An unopened flower, often protected by sepals.

..... B. napus

3' Petals 6–11(13) mm; flowers overtopping buds ..... B. rapa

1' Distal cauline leaves short-petioled to sessile, base 

tapered 

Gradually (not abruptly) narrower or smaller at base or tip.

4. Pedicel, fruit 

erect 

Upright; vertically oriented.

, ± 

appressed 

Parallel or nearly parallel to and often in contact with surface of origin; used to describe the disposition of hairs, leaves, pedicels, etc.

; 

pedicel 

Stalk of an individual flower in an inflorescence, or the corresponding structure in fruit.

(2)3–5(6) mm ..... B. nigra

4' Pedicel, fruit 

spreading 

Oriented more or less perpendicularly to the axis of attachment; often, more or less horizontal.

to 

ascending 

Curving or angling upward from base, or about 30-60 degrees less than vertical or away from axis of attachment.

, not appressed; pedicel (5)8–25 mm

5. Basal leaves stiff-hairy, persistent, lateral 

lobe 

1. A major expansion or bulge, such as on the margin of a leaf, sepal, or petal, or on the surface of an ovary. 2. The free tips of otherwise fused structures, such as sepals or petals; larger than teeth.

pairs 4–10; petals 4–7 mm, 1.5–2(2.5) mm wide ..... B. tournefortii

5' Basal leaves ± glabrous, deciduous, lateral lobe pairs 1–3(4); petals 7–15 mm, 3–7.5 mm wide

6. Fruit 1.5–3 cm, 1.5–2 mm wide, stalk above receptacle 1–1.5 mm, terminal segment 3–6 mm ..... B. fruticulosa

6' Fruit (2)3–5(6) cm, 2–5 mm wide, stalk above receptacle 0, terminal segment (4)5–10(15) mm ..... B. juncea

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