1. Rapeseed (Brassica napus), also known as rape, oilseed rape, rapa, rappi, rapaseed (and, in the case of one particular group of cultivars,canola), is a bright yellow flowering member of the family Brassicaceae (mustard or cabbage family).

2. The name derives from the Latin for turnip, rapa orrapum, and is first recorded in English at the end of the 14th century. Older writers usually distinguished the turnip and rape by the adjectives round andlong(-rooted) respectively.