Brassica Napus

Brassica napus, L. (now considered a variety of B. campestris, L.).

Natural order , Cruciferæ.

Common names , Rape seed, Cole seed.

Authority.

John Popham, M. B., Lancet, 1849 (2), p. 635, a large number of Irish during the famine ate freely of wild corn kale or Brassica napus.

They all exhibited indications of deteriorated health, the hue of the skin being uniformly sallow and muddy-looking, totally different from the brown discoloration caused by exposure to the sun; the surface was always covered with that colorless downy hair, so characteristic of what the country people here call "impoverished blood." An œdematous state prevailed generally of the whole body, but always of the face and lower extremities, the former sometimes being swollen to an enormous extent, the distended state of the eyelids and upper lip especially producing remarkable deformity. The abdomen was tympanitic; the bowels torpid; the mucous membrane of the mouth and pharynx was inflamed, and in some parts ulcerated, and the gums spongy; the appetite was usually greater than natural, in some cases voracious; the urinary secretion was deficient and irritating, and that of the skin suspended; very distressing frontal headache and tension was also complained of; but the most curious symptom, next to the œdematous appearance of the patient, was the state of the hands and feet, which were dry and shrunken, with blotches of a deep red, resembling burns, on the backs of the hands and dorsum of the feet, the fingers and toes being frequently cold and livid. Similar blotches existed on the nose and forehead, and these varied in their consequence from simple discoloration to ulceration of a most troublesome description, terminating in loss of the cuticle, and dropping off of the nails, with a marked disposition in the aggravated cases to gangrene.