RAPHANUS, RADISH; a genus of the filiquosae order, belonging to the tetradynamia class of plants; and in the natural method ranking under the 39th order, Siliquosae. The calyx is close; the filiqua torose, or swelling out in knots, subarticulated, and round. There are two melliferous glandules between the shorter stamina and the pistil, and two between the longer stamina and the calyx.
There is only one species, viz. the fativus, or common garden radish; of which there are several varieties. They are annual plants, which being sowed in the spring, attain perfection in two or three months, and shoot up soon after into stalk for flower and seed, which, ripening in autumn, the whole plant, root and top, perishes; so that a fresh supply must be raised annually from seed in the spring, performing the sowings at several different times, from about Christmas until May, in order to continue a regular succession of young tender radishes throughout the season: allowing only a fortnight or three weeks interval between the sowings; for one crop will not continue good longer than that space of time, before they will either run to seed, or become tough, sticky, and too hot to eat.