Raphanobrassica

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See Raphanobrassica in Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Raphanobrassica is a genus that contains all of the various artificial hybrids bred from the species of the plant genera Raphanus (radishes), and Brassica (cabbages, kale, brusselsprouts, kohlrabi).

The first example of Raphanobrassica was created by the Russian cytologist, Georgi Dmitrievich Karpechenko, in 1927-28, when he crossed the radish, Raphanus sativus, with the common cabbage, Brassica oleracea. Karpechenko's plan was to create a "vegetable of the Proletariat," that would have the edible root of the radish and the flavorful leaves of the cabbage. As luck would have it, the resulting offspring was the result of an allopolyploid mutation, where both gametes had double the number of chromosomes, and were incapable of being crossed back with either parent. However, Karpechenko's experiment was an abysmal failure, as his "vegetable of the Proletariat" had the leaves of a radish and the root of a cabbage, and was considered to be wholely inedible.

However, despite Karpechenko's poignant lack of success, that's not to say that all Raphanobrassica hybrids are without value. The hybrid "Raparadish" (Raphanus sativus X Brassica rapa) is used extensively as fodder.

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