Turnip

Brassica rapa Rapifera Group · Cabbage family

Plant portrait

Turnips form an often rounded swelling beneath a rosette of leaves. The illustrated type combines a purple shoulder with a white base; other shapes and colours also exist.

Harvested part

The swollen part and young leaves.

What to watch for

Watch the leaves and swelling at soil level. The visible portion does not reveal everything developing below; the exposed model helps identify its shape without providing a real measurement.

Growth stages of the turnip

Plotilo illustrates the turnip in 5 stages in 3D: seed, small sprout, young plant, growing and harvest. The models show typical shapes; they do not predict how long growth takes.

Seed
Starting from a seed. It is shown on the surface to make it visible in this illustration.
Small sprout
A short first stem and its first small leaves emerge.
Young plant
The young plant carries more leaves and starts to take its own shape.
Growing
Leaves and stems develop. Their shape depends on the species.
Harvest
An illustration of the harvested part. Roots are made visible for clarity; this image does not confirm actual maturity.

See the turnip in 3D

Same botanical family

Same botanical family as the turnip (the cabbage family): the radish, the broccoli, the cauliflower, the cabbage, the Chinese cabbage, the Brussels sprout and 8 more plants from the catalogue. Gardeners usually avoid growing the same family in the same spot several years in a row: that is the idea behind crop rotation.