Naming
The oil made from the seed is sometimes also called "canola" or "colza", which is one reason why it is sometimes confused with rapeseed oil, but this comes from a different "Brassica" species. The oilseeds known as canola are sometimes particular varieties of "Brassica rapa" but usually the related species "Brassica napus" and "Brassica juncea".Researchers at the University of Wisconsin–Madison have selectively bred one subspecies of "B. rapa" to have an extremely short life cycle for use as a model organism in education and experiment. This variety is known by the trademarked name "Wisconsin Fast Plants."
Evolution
In the 18th century the turnip and the oilseed-producing variants were seen as being different species by Carl Linnaeus who named them "B. rapa" and "B. campestris". 20th-century taxonomists found that the plants were cross fertile and thus belonged to the same species. Since the turnip had been named first by Linnaeus, the name "Brassica rapa" was adopted.Many butterflies, including the small white, pollinate the "B. rapa" flowers.
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