Subject: Re: What common name for Brassica rapa?
From: [email-masked] (R.G. Walters)
Date: 8 Jul 1994 17:47:19 +0100
Newsgroups: bionet.plants

In article <[email-masked]> [email-masked] (Dr S T May) writes:
>Oil seed rape is not Brassica rapa....it is Brassica napus

I bow to (anyone's) superior knowledge - but it seems strange that "rapa"
should not be the source of the name "rape".

>As an (extreme) hayfever sufferer who works on rape seed, I can personally
>put paid to the assertion (sometimes seen in the press) that oil seed rape
>is a non-specific allergen..that increases suffering in ALL hay fever
>cases and starts new ones in previous non-sufferers.
>The increase in hayfever is almost certainly due to increased pollution
>and not oil-seed rape...(especially car pollution).

I would tend to agree with this - despite being a (recent) hayfever sufferer,
I have felt no correlation with rape.  But that doesn't mean that it isn't
in part responsible for a rise in hayfever.

I must admit that I'm prejudiced against it because it is an outstandingly
ugly crop.

Robin Walters.                      Robert Hill Institute, Sheffield UK.

A fact is an opinion that everyone agrees with.