Turnip

Rapeseed

Canola Plant

Oilseed Rape

Rape

BRANA

Recent evidence suggests that B. napus has multiple origins, and that most cultivated forms of B. napus were derived from a cross in which a closely related ancestral species of B. rapa and B. oleracea was the maternal donor. B. montana is also possibly a progenitor species of B. napus.

B. napus is grown as a winter annual in regions where winter conditions do not result in very low temperatures, which would kill the plants.

There are two types of B. napus: 1) oil-yielding oleiferous rape, of which one subset with specific quality characteristics is often referred to as "canola" (vernacular name), and 2) the tuber-bearing swede or rutabaga.

Today, two species of Brassica have commercialized varieties with "double low" characteristics, i.e. low erucic acid content in the fatty acid profile and very low glucosinolate content in the meal, characteristics desirable for high-quality vegetable oil and high-quality animal feed.

In North America two species (B. napus and B. rapa) are considered to be of "canola" quality.

See also http://bch.cbd.int/database/record.shtml?documentid=9845 for information on  B. rapa