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Family
Food - Whole plant used as vegetable in making soups, and salads. Seeds used for making canola cooking oil. Medicine - It used in folk medicine.
Northern Africa, Middle-East
It grows along roadsides, disturbed areas and waste places, cultivated fields, grain fields, orchards, and gardens.
One of the first domesticated plants in Asia. A major food source before the introduction of the potato.
It is a biennial herb growing 30 cm tall with a swollen, white-fleshed taproot.
Stems erect, simple or branched above.
Lower leaves have stalks (up to 17 cm) and come in various shapes (oval, oblong, lanceolate) with smooth, wavy, toothed, or lobed edges. Some even have a large central lobe with smaller lobes on either side. Upper leaves tend to be smaller, stalkless, and clasp the stem at the base.
Flowers has four bright yellow, obovate petals measuring 6-11 mm long by 2.5-6 mm wide. The petals rest on a claw (3-7 mm) and have rounded tips.
It develops 2 to 11 cm long siliques (dry, elongated pods) after flowering. Each fruit segment contains 8-15 seeds.
Flowering: March – June
Fruiting: April – June