Brassica oleracea
Habit | herbaceous
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Lifespan: | ⌛ | biennial |
Features: | ✓ | edible |
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Flower features: | ❀ | purple, white |
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Brassica oleracea, or Wild Cabbage, is a species of Brassica native to coastal southern and western Europe, where its tolerance of salt and lime and its intolerance of competition from other plants typically restrict its natural occurrence to limestone sea cliffs, like the chalk cliffs on both sides of the English Channel.
Wild B. olearacea is a tall biennial plant, forming a stout rosette of large leaves in the first year, the leaves being fleshier and thicker than those of other species of Brassica, adaptations to store water and nutrients in its difficult growing environment. In its second year, the stored nutrients are used to produce a flower spike 1 to(-) 2 m tall bearing numerous yellow flowers.
It has been bred into a wide range of cultivars, including cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, and more, some of which are hardly recognisable as being members of the same genus, let alone species. The historical genus of crucifera, meaning four-petalled flower, may be the only uniting feature beyond taste. It has become established as an important human food crop plant. According to the Triangle of U theory, B. oleracea is very closely related to five other species of the genus Brassica.[1]
ExpandRead about Brassica oleracea in the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture
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Cultivation
Propagation
Pests and diseases
Varieties
The cultivars of B. oleracea are grouped by developmental form into seven major cultivar groups, of which the Acephala Group remains most like the natural Wild Cabbage in appearance:
- Brassica oleracea Acephala Group - kale and collard greens
- Brassica oleracea Alboglabra Group- Chinese broccoli
- Brassica oleracea Botrytis Group - cauliflower, Romanesco broccoli and broccoflower
- Brassica oleracea Capitata Group - cabbage
- Brassica oleracea Gemmifera Group - brussels sprouts
- Brassica oleracea Gongylodes Group - kohlrabi
- Brassica oleracea Italica Group - broccoli
Some (notably brussels sprouts and broccoli) contain high levels of sinigrin which may help prevent bowel cancer.
For other edible plants in the family Brassicaceae, see cruciferous vegetables.
Gallery
References
- Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture, by L. H. Bailey, MacMillan Co., 1963
External links
- w:Brassica oleracea. Some of the material on this page may be from Wikipedia, under the Creative Commons license.
- Brassica oleracea QR Code (Size 50, 100, 200, 500)