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Raphanus sativus niger
Brassicaceae FAMILY

Raphanus sativus niger

Raphanus sativus niger

Edibility
4/5
Medicinal
3/5

Safety & Hazards

The Japanese radishes have higher concentrations of glucosinolate, a substance that acts against the thyroid gland. It is probably best to remove the skin[1].

Cultivation Details

HabitAnnual
GrowthFast

Prefers a rich soil with ample moisture[2, 3]. Dislikes very heavy or acid soils[2, 4]. Some of the Oriental radish cultivars have been selected for growing in clay soils, the swollen part of the root is formed on the soil surface[5]. Plants are susceptible to drought and require irrigation during dry spells in the summer or the root quality will rapidly deteriorate and the plant will go to seed. The Oriental and winter radishes are often cultivated for their large edible roots, which can be available from mid summer and all through the winter. There are many named varieties. The plants are very winter hardy and can normally be left in the ground all winter to be harvested as required, though slugs might cause some damage to the roots. Radishes are a good companion plant for lettuces, nasturtiums, peas and chervil, tomatoes and cucumbers[6, 7]. They are said to repel cucumber beetles if planted near cucumber plants and they also repel the vine borers which attack squashes, marrows and courgettes[8]. They grow badly with hyssop[6, 7] and with grape vines[9].

Propagation

Seed - sow outdoors in situ from spring to late summer. Most cultivars are best sown in late summer in order to provide a crop in the winter and early spring, though there are several cultivars that can be successfully sown in the spring to provide a summer and autumn crop. Cite as: Temperate Plants Database, Ken Fern. temperate.theferns.info. 2026-02-21. <temperate.theferns.info/plant/Raphanus+sativus+niger>

Pollinators

Bees, Flies

References

  1. [1]Wonder Crops. 1987. — Natural Food Institute, ↩︎Fascinating reading, this is an annual publication. Some reports do seem somewhat exaggerated though.
  2. [2]New Vegetable Growers Handbook. — Simons. · Penguin · 1977 · ISBN 0-14-046-050-0 ↩︎A good guide to growing vegetables in temperate areas, not entirely organic.
  3. [3]Salads all the Year Round. — Larkcom. J. · Hamlyn · 1980 ↩︎A good and comprehensive guide to temperate salad plants, with full organic details of cultivation.
  4. [4]The Gardener's Assistant. — Thompson. B. · Blackie and Son. · 1878 · ISBN - ↩︎Excellent general but extensive guide to gardening practices in the 19th century. A very good section on fruits and vegetables with many little known species.
  5. [5]Oriental Vegetables — Larkcom J. · John Murray · 1991 · ISBN 0-7195-4781-4 ↩︎Well written and very informative.
  6. [6]Companion Plants. — Philbrick H. and Gregg R. B. · Watkins · 1979 · ISBN - ↩︎Details of beneficial and antagonistic relationships between neighbouring plants.
  7. [7]Companion Planting for Successful Gardening. — Riotte. L. · Garden Way, Vermont, USA. · 1978 · ISBN 0-88266-064-0 ↩︎Fairly good.
  8. [8]Encyclopaedia of Herbs and their Uses. — Bown. D. · Dorling Kindersley, London. · 1995 · ISBN 0-7513-020-31 ↩︎A very well presented and informative book on herbs from around the globe. Plenty in it for both the casual reader and the serious student. Just one main quibble is the silly way of having two separate entries for each plant.
  9. [9]A - Z of Companion Planting. — Allardice.P. · Cassell Publishers Ltd. · 1993 · ISBN 0-304-34324-2 ↩︎A well produced and very readable book.
  10. [10]The Garden. Volume 111. — RHS. · Royal Horticultural Society · 1986 · ISBN - ↩︎Snippets of information from the magazine of the RHS, including an article on Crambe maritima and another on several species thought to be tender that are succeeding in a S. Devon garden.
  11. [11]Cornucopia - A Source Book of Edible Plants. — Facciola. S. · Kampong Publications · 1990 · ISBN 0-9628087-0-9 ↩︎Excellent. Contains a very wide range of conventional and unconventional food plants (including tropical) and where they can be obtained (mainly N. American nurseries but also research institutes and a lot of other nurseries from around the world.
  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]Edible and Medicinal Plants. — Launert. E. · Hamlyn · 1981 · ISBN 0-600-37216-2 ↩︎Covers plants in Europe. a drawing of each plant, quite a bit of interesting information.
  14. [14]Herbs — Phillips. R. & Foy. N. · Pan Books Ltd. London. · 1990 · ISBN 0-330-30725-8 ↩︎Deals with all types of herbs including medicinal, culinary, scented and dye plants. Excellent photographs with quite good information on each plant.
  15. [15]Sturtevant's Edible Plants of the World. — Hedrick. U. P. · Dover Publications · 1972 · ISBN 0-486-20459-6 ↩︎Lots of entries, quite a lot of information in most entries and references.
  16. [16]The Encyclopedia of Medicinal Plants — Chevallier. A. · Dorling Kindersley. London · 1996 · ISBN 9-780751-303148 ↩︎An excellent guide to over 500 of the more well known medicinal herbs from around the world.
  17. [17]A Barefoot Doctors Manual. — ? · Running Press; Philadelphica. · 1977 · ISBN 0-914294-92-X ↩︎A very readable herbal from China, combining some modern methods with traditional chinese methods.
  18. [18]Glossary of Indian Medicinal Plants (Including the Supplement). — Chopra. R. N., Nayar. S. L. and Chopra. I. C. · Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, New Delhi. · 1986 · ISBN - ↩︎Very terse details of medicinal uses of plants with a wide range of references and details of research into the plants chemistry. Not for the casual reader.
  19. [19]Handbook of Chinese Herbs and Formulas. — Yeung. Him-Che. · Institute of Chinese Medicine, Los Angeles · 1985 · ISBN - ↩︎An excellent Chinese herbal giving information on over 500 species. Rather technical and probably best suited to the more accomplished user of herbs.
  20. [20]The Herb Book. — Lust. J. · Bantam books · 1983 · ISBN 0-553-23827-2 ↩︎Lots of information tightly crammed into a fairly small book.
  21. [21]A Modern Herbal. — Grieve. · Penguin · 1984 · ISBN 0-14-046-440-9 ↩︎Not so modern (1930's?) but lots of information, mainly temperate plants.
  22. [22]Green Manures. — Woodward. L. Burge. P. · Elm Farm Research Centre. · 1982 · ISBN - ↩︎Green manure crops for temperate areas. Quite a lot of information on a number of species.
  23. [PFAF]Plants for a Future — pfaf.org ↩︎