Japanese name: ノザワナ（野沢菜） Scientific name:Brassica rapa var. hakabura
[Overview]
A biennial 50–90 cm tall.
The root swells.
The leaves are alternate and spatulate, and some have deeply cut margins.
The petioles are long.
The flowers are borne in racemes at the stem tips and are yellow with 4 petals.
[History]
It was long thought to be a cultivar developed around 1750 in Nozawa Onsen village, Nagano, from the Tennoji-kabu (a turnip) that a monk of Kenmyoji temple brought back from Kyoto.
Genetic research has now rejected this origin, and it is considered a separate variety derived from the turnip.
[Uses]
The leaves and stems are used as a vegetable.
The pickle called nozawana-zuke is especially famous.
[Cultivation]
Pests include aphids, cabbage worms and cutworms.
