rutabaga (redirected from rutabagas)

rutabaga: see turnip.

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rutabaga

Swedish turnip (Brassica napus) in the mustard family. A hardy biennial, the rutabaga is a cool-season plant cultivated for its fleshy roots and tender leaves. Related to the turnip, it requires a longer growing season but is more tolerant of cold; in addition, its flesh is firmer and more nutritious and its roots keep much better during winter. White-fleshed varieties have a rough, green skin and bright canary-coloured flowers. Yellow-fleshed varieties have a smooth green, purple, or bronze skin and buff-yellow or pale orange flowers. Rutabagas are extensively cultivated as a vegetable and as a cattle fodder crop in Canada, Britain, and northern Europe, and to a lesser extent in the U.S.

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rutabaga

US and Canadian a Eurasian plant, Brassica napus (or B. napobrassica), cultivated for its bulbous edible root, which is used as a vegetable and as cattle fodder: family Brassicaceae (crucifers)

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rutabaga [¦rüd·ə¦bā·gə]

(botany)

Brassica napobrassica.A biennial crucifer of the order Capparales probably resulting from the natural crossing of cabbage and turnip and characterized by a large, edible, yellowish fleshy root.