Brassica rapa Brassica rapa Brassica rapa is a plant consisting of various widely cultivated subspecies including the turnip (a root vegetable); napa cabbage, bomdong, bok choy, and cime di rapa (leaf vegetables); and "Brassica rapa subsp. oleifera", an oilseed which has many common names, including "turnip rape", "field mustard", "bird rape", and "keblock". 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 ("Brassica napus"). The oilseeds known as canola are sometimes particular varieties of "Brassica rapa" (termed Polish
Vegetable oils as alternative energy bio-diesel is that it can tolerate low rainfall (as little as 250 ml per year), far below what most food-crops require, thus reducing yet more their potential to compete. Some species of algae contain as much as 50% vegetable oil. Algae have very high growth rates compared to plants normally used to produce vegetable oil. Potentially algae could produce much more oil per area of land than current farming methods. So producing vegetable oil this way should result in less deforestation and less competition for food production land. One expert wrote: "As demonstrated here, microalgal biodiesel is technically feasible. It