Raphanobrassica

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Raphanobrassica

Kingdom:	Plantae
Division:	Magnoliophyta
Class:	Magnoliopsida
Order:	Brassicales
Family:	Brassicaceae
Genus:	Raphanobrassica

Raphanobrassica includes all intergeneric hybrids between the genera Raphanus (radish) and Brassica (cabbages, etc). The name comes from the combination of the genus names for radish and cabbage. Some botanists prefer to use the name Brassicoraphanus, particularly for plants derived from a cross where Brassica was the maternal parent (but neither name has been validly published).

The first Raphanobrassica or "rabbage", an allopolyploid cross between the radish (Raphanus sativus) and cabbage (Brassica oleracea), was obtained by the Soviet agronomist Georgi Dmitrievich Karpechenko, in 1928.

Plants of this parentage are now known as radicole. Two other fertile forms of Raphanobrassica are known. Raparadish, an allopolyploid hybrid between Raphanus sativus and Brassica rapa is grown as a fodder crop. "Raphanofortii" is the allopolyploid hybrid between Brassica tournefortii and Raphanus caudatus.

For gastronomists, (those interested in food) this plant may have seemed a disappointment, since all the resulting hybrids of this crossing have radish leaves and cabbage roots -- the two non-edible parts of its ancestors. For biologists, however, the Raphanobrassica is an extremely interesting plant, because - in spite of its hybrid nature - it is not sterile. This led some botanists to propose that the accidental hybridization of a flower by pollen of another species in nature could be a mechanism of speciation common in higher plants. Currently, it is thought that a great part of the flowering plants have some hybridization among their ancestors, particularly in the case of the orchids.