rapa) is a root vegetable commonly grown in temperate climates worldwide for its white, fleshy taproot.

According to An Universal Etymological English Dictionary, turn refers to "round napus to distinguish it from the napi, which were generally long".

[2] The most common type of turnip is mostly white-skinned, apart from the upper 1 to 6 centimetres (1⁄2 to 2+1⁄2 inches), which protrude above the ground and are purple or red or greenish where the sun has hit.

The leaves grow directly from the above-ground shoulder of the root, with little or no visible crown or neck (as found in rutabagas).

Turnip greens are a common side dish in southeastern U.S. cooking, primarily during late fall and winter.

Similar to raw cabbage or radish, turnip leaves and roots have a pungent flavor that becomes milder after cooking.

Starting as early as 2000 BCE, related oilseed subspecies of Brassica rapa like oleifera may have been domesticated several times from the Mediterranean to India, though these are not the same turnips cultivated for their roots.

[7] It later spread to Europe and East Asia with farmers in both areas later selecting for larger leaves; it subsequently became an important food in the Hellenistic and Roman world.

The broth obtained from this process was known as pot likker and was served with crumbled corn pone, often made from coarse meal when little else was available along the antebellum frontier.

They are typically planted in the spring in cold-weather climates (such as the northern US and Canada) where the growing season is only 3–4 months.

In temperate climates (ones with a growing season of 5–6 months), turnips may also be planted in late summer for a second fall crop.

In the Austrian region of Wildschönau, farmers produce a kind of schnaps called Krautinger from a variation of Brassica rapa ssp.