Scientific Name: Brassica rapa L. subsp. Sylvestris L. Janch. Var. esculenta Hort.

Characteristics:

• Annual plant: the cycle lasts from 3 to 5 months
• Root: taproot when young, later fasciculate and superficial

• Leaves: high polymorphism;

  the basal leaves are broad, oval, entire or pinnate, with a serrated (curly) margin and reach 80 cm in length

  the uppermost leaves can be entire, almost elliptical or lyrate-pinnate with an expanded sub-round apical segment that can be over 30 cm long and over 25 wide accompanied by 1-4 gradually smaller lateral lobes

• Leaf margin: from almost entire to wavy, crenate to lacerated and incised

• Leaf Blade: light green, shiny and glabrous

• Veins: very showy and sometimes white
• Leaf stalk: variable length, sometimes it can exceed that of the lamina, provided or not with irregular basal wings from 2-3 mm to 2-3 cm wide and up to over 10 cm long

• Leaves of the flower stems: small, lanceolate-ensiform, completely amplexicaul, with entire or sub-entire margin and green in colour darker, crenate, serrated

• Number of leaves: about 10 in early ecotypes and more than 30 in late ones
• Inflorescences: they are corymbs, they are small (less than 4 cm in early types) or medium (maximum 7 cm in late ones), arranged on the central stem and on the lateral shoots (particularly in late ones), formed by clusters of flowers, not yet bloomed, enclosed by 4-5 leaflets

• Flowers: small and yellow, formed by 4 petals

• Fruit: silique containing 10-20 seeds

For Friariello Napoletano we do not speak of varieties but of ecotypes that commonly take their name from the length of the cultural cycle which can be early, medium or late (“Cinquantino”, “Sessantino”, “Novantino” and “Centoventino”) or from the most possible harvest period (“Marzatica”, “Aprilatica”).

Early ecotypes (“Cinquantino”, “Sessantino”):

• they have small stems and inflorescences
• they complete their cycle in 40/60 days
• they are typically sown at the end of August and are ready for harvest in October

Ecotypes with an intermediate crop cycle (“Novantino”, “Centoventino”):

• they have a lush leaf mass and larger inflorescence
• they are characterized by a crop cycle of 90 to 120 days
• they are sown at the end of November and are harvested throughout the winter until February

Ecotypes with a late cycle (“Marzatica”, “Aprilatica”):

• they produce very large main inflorescences
• they are characterized by a crop cycle that can exceed 150 days
• they are sown in December and are harvested during the spring