The dreaded rapeseed season

The rapeseed is in full flower again, the countryside is a bilious, sulphurous yellow and the air is redolent with its rank stink. We humans are rendered ill, coughing and sneezing and miserable. I must admit that it looks quite pretty close-up.

Rapeseed Brassica napus is cultivated mainly for its oil-rich seed, being the third largest source of vegetable oil in the world. The name derives from the classical Latin rapum for turnip, a close relative. Back in mediaeval times turnip and rape were distinguished by the adjectives round and long (-rooted), respectively.