Plant · P-718

Rapeseed

Brassica napus

Rapeseed is grown mainly for the oil pressed from its seed, sold as canola once bred into low-erucic-acid strains that removed the toxicity older varieties carried. The whole plant earns its keep beyond the seed - young leaves, flowering stems and sprouts are all edible, and grazing animals do well on it as a fast-growing forage crop, though it has to be introduced gradually and capped in the daily ration to avoid bloat and anemia. The leftover meal after pressing is a high-protein livestock feed that rivals soybean meal, and the whole plant works as a green manure, its deep taproot loosening heavy soil while its flowers feed nectar to bees.