Abstract

Brassica napus L. (B. napus L) (Cruciferae), is one of the cultivated medicinal food plants in Middle Asia, North Africa and West Europe. In Iranian traditional medicine, the root parts of this plant were used for the therapeutic properties as diuretic, anti-scurvy, anti-inflammatory of bladder and anti-goat. The usage of rapeseed oil as a food product as well as in the production of non-nutrition products such as greases, lubricant oils and especially bio-fuel may cause the increasing in rapeseed production in the world with FAO estimation of 58.4 million tons in the 2010-2011.The presence of a high quantity of erucic acid in natural rapeseed oil makes it toxic for consuming and the edible rapeseed oil is prepared from plant’s hybrid (contained little or no eurcic acid) which used as cooking oil. Unfortunately, the medicinal properties of this plant have not been considered and are going to forget by expert scientists except the seed oil. Alongside the world trend to increase the cultivation of this plant, more evaluations on the pharmacological and biological activities of B. napus L. is recommended especially using traditional and folk experiences based documents. In this paper, the important achievements of phytochemistry and pharmacology for this plant are reviewed.

Key words: Brassica napus, canola, eurcic acid, anti-inflammatory, bio-fuel.