Vegetables & garden · Raphanus sativus
Discovering radishes
Flauschi shows Puschel a harvested radish with a thin root. Flauschi“A red button with a green top.”
The short answer
In a radish, mainly a young stem section just above the thin root swells. We eat that swollen part. It is not simply a round root. Shape and colour vary by variety.
See the connection
Simplified drawings, not to scale. Not a guide for identifying species.
An imagined Wusel scene
Puschel and Flauschi investigate
Flauschi shows Puschel a harvested radish with a thin root. Flauschi“A red button with a green top.”
Puschel looks for buttonholes. Then he grins. Puschel“Luckily, I do not have to sew it on.”
They compare the radish with the plants in the bed. The others get more time. One little discovery is no reason to pull up the whole row.
Discover
A round radish forms mainly from a thickened part of the young stem just below the seed leaves. Its thin root sits beneath it.
Understand
Many radishes have red skins and white flesh. Colour and shape vary between varieties.
Connections
Radishes grow relatively quickly. Temperature, variety and water supply affect when they can be harvested.
Little Wusel quiz
Is a round radish simply a tiny carrot root?
Show answer
No. A round radish mainly has a thickened young stem section below its seed leaves; a carrot has a thickened storage root.
Explore in more detail
Here you will find longer explanations and further details. You can explore them together.
How can one plant have a swollen stem and fruits?
A radish’s round edible part mainly comes from a swollen section between its root and seed leaves, the young plant’s first leaves. This storage part is not a fruit. If the plant flowers later, it can also produce elongated seed-bearing fruits.
Compare and understand
Harvest-ready here means pleasantly crisp for eating. Leaving radishes longer does not make them endlessly bigger and better; they may become woody or flower. Compare a bought radish with a flowering plant photograph. A plant has more life stages and parts than a shop display shows.