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Brassica rapa chinensis
Brassicaceae FAMILY

Brassica rapa chinensis

Brassica rapa chinensis

Edibility
4/5
Medicinal
2/5

Safety & Hazards

The oil contained in the seed of some varieties of this species can be rich in erucic acid which is toxic. However, modern cultivars have been selected which are almost free of erucic acid.

Cultivation Details

HabitBiennial
Growth—

Pak choi arose through cultivation in the warm temperate zone and can also be cultivated in the tropics and subtropics . It grows best in areas where annual daytime temperatures are within the range 20 - 25°c, but can tolerate 10 - 32°c[1]. Plants are not tremendously winter-hardy, though they will withstand light frosts[2]. It prefers a mean annual rainfall in the range 900 - 1,400mm, but tolerates 300 - 2,000mm[1]. Succeeds in full sun in a well-drained fertile preferably alkaline soil[3]. Prefers a cool moist reasonably fertile soil[4]. Prefers a pH in the range 5.5 - 7, tolerating 4.3 to 7.5[3, 1]. The plant is shallow rooted and intolerant of drought, it needs to be grown in a moist fertile soil for the best quality leaves[5]. A fast-growing plant, there are many named varieties and some can be ready in as little as five weeks from sowing the seed[6, 5, 7]. Forms with green stems tend to stand up better to adverse conditions than white-stemmed forms[5]. Yields may be 10 - 20 tonnes per hectare for small cultivars and 20 - 30 tonnes for large cultivars[1]..

Propagation

Seed - sow in situ May to August. Spring sown crops are prone to run quickly to seed if there is a spell of cold weather[5]. Some varieties can also be sown in a cold greenhouse in autumn or early spring to provide leaves overwinter and in late spring. Cite as: Temperate Plants Database, Ken Fern. temperate.theferns.info. 2026-02-20. <temperate.theferns.info/plant/Brassica+rapa+chinensis>

Pollinators

Bees, Self

References

  1. [1]Ecocrop — http://ecocrop.fao.org/ecocrop/srv/en/home ↩︎Basic information on a wide range of useful plants, plus details of environmental needs where available.
  2. [2]Growing from Seed. Volume 1. — Rice. G. (Editor) · Thompson and Morgan. · 1987 · ISBN - ↩︎Very readable magazine with lots of information on propagation.
  3. [3]The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. 1992. — Huxley. A. · MacMillan Press · 1992 · ISBN 0-333-47494-5 ↩︎Excellent and very comprehensive, though it contains a number of silly mistakes. Readable yet also very detailed.
  4. [4]Salads all the Year Round. — Larkcom. J. · Hamlyn · 1980 ↩︎A good and comprehensive guide to temperate salad plants, with full organic details of cultivation.
  5. [5]Oriental Vegetables — Larkcom J. · John Murray · 1991 · ISBN 0-7195-4781-4 ↩︎Well written and very informative.
  6. [6]The Garden. Volume 112. — RHS. · Royal Horticultural Society · 1987 · ISBN - ↩︎Snippets of information from the magazine of the RHS. In particular, there are articles on plants that are resistant to honey fungus, oriental vegetables, Cimicifuga spp, Passiflora species and Cucurbits.
  7. [7]Vegetables — Phillips. R. & Rix. M. · Macmillan Reference Books, London. · 1995 · ISBN 0 333 62640 0 ↩︎Excellent and easily read book with good information and an excellent collection of photos of vegetables from around the world, including many unusual species.
  8. [8]Vegetables in the Tropics — Tindall. H. D. · MacMillan, Oxford. · 1983 · ISBN 0-333-24268-8 ↩︎An excellent, in-depth look at the main vegetable crops that can be grown in the Tropics, plus many less well-known plants.
  9. [9]Dictionary of Economic Plants. — Uphof. J. C. Th. · Weinheim · 1959 · ISBN - ↩︎An excellent and very comprehensive guide but it only gives very short descriptions of the uses without any details of how to utilize the plants. Not for the casual reader.
  10. [10]A Dictionary of Plants Used by Man. — Usher. G. · Constable · 1974 · ISBN 0094579202 ↩︎Forget the sexist title, this is one of the best books on the subject. Lists a very extensive range of useful plants from around the world with very brief details of the uses. Not for the casual reader.
  11. [11]Oriental Herbs and Vegetables, Vol 39 No. 2. — Brooklyn Botanic Garden · Brooklyn Botanic Garden · 1986 · ISBN - ↩︎A small booklet packed with information.
  12. [12]Medicinal Plants of China — Duke. J. A. and Ayensu. E. S. · Reference Publications, Inc. · 1985 · ISBN 0-917256-20-4 ↩︎Details of over 1,200 medicinal plants of China and brief details of their uses. Often includes an analysis, or at least a list of constituents. Heavy going if you are not into the subject.
  13. [13]Flora of China — Missouri Botanical Garden Press; St. Louis. · 1994 · http://flora.huh.harvard.edu/china/ ↩︎An excellent, comprehensive resource in 25 volumes. In addition to the botanical information the flora also gives basic information on habitat and some uses. An on-line version is also available.
  14. [14]RHS Dictionary of Plants plus Supplement. 1956 — F. Chittendon. · Oxford University Press · 1951 · ISBN - ↩︎Comprehensive listing of species and how to grow them. Somewhat outdated, it has been replaced in 1992 by a new dictionary (see [ 200 ]).
  15. [15]Plants for Man. — Schery. R. W. ↩︎Fairly readable but not very comprehensive. Deals with plants from around the world.
  16. [16]Flora of the USSR. — Komarov. V. L. · Israel Program for Scientific Translation · 1968 · http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org · ISBN - ↩︎An immense (25 or more large volumes) and not yet completed translation of the Russian flora. Full of information on plant uses and habitats but heavy going for casual readers. It can be downloaded from the Internet.
  17. [17]Economic Botany. — Hill. A. F. · The Maple Press · 1952 · ISBN - ↩︎Not very comprehensive, but it is quite readable and goes into some detail about the plants it does cover.