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This genus, in its cultivated species and varieties, assumes protean forms. In the cabbage section we have the borecoles and kales, which come nearest to the wild form; green and red cabbage with great, single heads; the savoys with their blistered and wrinkled leaves; brussels sprouts with numerous little heads; broccolis and the cauliflowers with their flowers in an aborted condition and borne in a dense corymb; the stalked cabbage of Jersey, which sometimes attains a height of 16 feet; the Portuguese couve tronchuda with the ribs of its leaves greatly thickened; and kohl-rabi. All of these vegetables are referred by Darwin to B. oleracea Linn. The other cultivated forms of the genus are descended, according to the view adopted by some, from two species, B. napus Linn. and B. rapa Linn.; but, according to other botanists, from three species; while others again strongly suspect that all these forms, both wild and cultivated, ought to be ranked as a single species. The genus, as established by Bentham, also includes the mustards.

== ''Brassica alba'' Boiss. ==

Europe and the adjoining portions of Asia. The cultivated plant appears to have been brought from central Asia to China, where the herbage is pickled in winter or used in spring as a pot-herb. In 1542, Fuchsius, a German writer, says it is planted everywhere in gardens. In 1597, in England, Gerarde says it is not common but that he has distributed the seed so that he thinks it is reasonably well known. It is mentioned in American gardens in 1806. The young leaves, cut close to the ground before the formation of the second series or rough leaves appear, form an esteemed salad.

== ''Brassica campestris'' Linn. ==

In the fifteenth century, Booth says the turnip had become known to the Flemings and formed one of their principal crops. The first turnips that were introduced into England, he says, are believed to have come from Holland in 1550. In the time of Henry VIII (1509-1547) according to Mclntosh, turnips were used baked or roasted in the ashes and the young shoots were used as a salad and as a spinach. Gerarde describes them in a number of varieties, but the first notice of their field culture is by Weston in 1645. Worlidge, 1668, mentions the turnip fly as an enemy of turnips and Houghton speaks of turnips as food for sheep in 1684. In 1686, Ray says they are sown everywhere in fields and gardens. In 1681, Worlidge says they are chiefly grown in gardens but are also grown to some extent in fields. The turnip was brought to America at a very early period. In 1540, Cartier sowed turnip seed in Canada, during his third voyage. They were also cultivated in Virginia in 1609; are mentioned again in 1648; and by Jefferson in 1781. They are said by Francis Higginson n to be in cultivation in Massachusetts in 1629 and are again mentioned by William Wood, 1629-33. They were plentiful about Philadelphia in 1707. Jared Sparks planted them in Connecticut in 1747. In 1775, Romans in his Natural History of Florida mentions them. They are also mentioned in South Carolina in 1779. In 1779, General Sullivan destroyed the turnips in the Indian fields at the present Geneva, New York, in the course of his invasion of the Indian country. The common flat turnip was raised as a field crop in Massachusetts and New York as early as 1817.

<center>'''NAVET, OR FRENCH TURNIP'''.</center>

*Teltow turnip. Vilm. 580. 1885.

The navets are mentioned as under cultivation in England by Worlidge, 1683; as the French turnip by Wheeler, 1763, and in Miller's Dictionary, 1807. Gasparin says the navet de Berlin, which often acquires a great size, is much grown in Alsace and in Germany. It is grown in China, according to Bretschneider. This turnip was known in the fifth century.

<center>'''THE COMMON FLAT TURNIP'''.</center>

*Rapum sive rapa. Pin. 143. 1561.

*Rapa. Dur. ?.386. 1617.

*Orbiculatum seu turbinatum rapum. Lob. Icon. I :197. 1791

*Rapum. Porta, Phytognom. 120. 1591.

*Navet jaune d'Hollande. Vilm. 370. 1883.

*Yellow Dutch. Vilm. 588. 1885.

<center>'''THE LONG TURNIP'''.</center>

This account by no means embraces all the turnips now known, as it deals with form only and not with color and habits. In 1828, 13 kinds were in Thorburn's American Seed Catalog and in 1887, 33 kinds. In France, 12 kinds were named by Pirolle in 1824 and by Petit in 1826. In 1887, Vilmorin's Wholesale Seed-list enumerates 31 kinds.

<center>'''RAPE'''.</center>

Summer rape is referred by Lindley to B. praecox Waldst. & Kit. In the east of France, it is called navette d'ete, or navette de mai and by the Germans summer reps. Some botanists refer summer rape to B. campestris Linn. and winter rape to B. napus Linn. Rape is also referred to B. rapa Linn. The evidence is unusually clear, says Darwin, that rape and the turnip belong to the same species, for the turnip has been observed by Koch and Godron to lose its thick roots in uncultivated soil and when rape and turnips are sown together they cross to such a degree that scarcely a single plant comes true. Summer rape seems to be grown to a far less extent than winter rape.

<center>'''RUTABAGA'''.</center>

This plant is said by Unger to be found wild and cultivated in Abyssinia although it furnishes a very poor cabbage, not to be compared with ours.

== ''Brassica chinensis'' Linn. ==

Considering that the round-headed cabbage is the only sort figured by the herbalists, that the pointed-headed early cabbages appeared only at a comparatively recent date, and certain resemblances between Pe-tsai and the long-headed cabbages, it is not an impossible suggestion that these cabbage-forms appeared as the effect of cross-fertilization with the Chinese cabbage. But, until the cabbage family has received more study in its varieties, and the results of hybridization are better understood, no certain conclusion can be reached. It is, however, certain that occasional rare sports, or variables, from the seed of our early, long-headed cabbages show the heavy veining and the limb of the leaf extending down the stalk, suggesting strongly the Chinese type. At present, however, views as to the origin of various types of cabbage must be considered as largely speculative.

== ''Brassica cretica'' Lam. ==

Mediterranean regions. The young shoots were formerly used in Greece.

== ''Brassica juncea'' Coss. ==

The plant is extensively cultivated throughout India, central Africa and generally in warm countries. It is largely grown in south Russia and in the steppes northeast of the Caspian Sea. In 1871-72, British India exported 1418 tons of seed. The oil is used in Russia in the place of olive oil. The powdered seeds furnish a medicinal and culinary mustard.

== ''Brassica nigra'' Koch. ==

Black mustard is described as a garden plant by Albertus Magnus in the thirteenth century and is mentioned by the botanists of the sixteenth century. It is, however, more grown as a field crop for its seed, from which the mustard of commerce is derived, yet finds place also as a salad plant. Two varieties are described, the Black Mustard of Sicily and the Large-seeded Black. This mustard was in American gardens in 1806 or earlier. The young plants are now eaten as a salad, the same as are those of B. alba and the seeds now furnish the greater portion of our mustard.

== ''Brassica oleracea acephala'' DC. ==

The form of kale known in France as the chevalier seems to have been the longest known and we may surmise that its names of chou caulier and caulet have reference to the period when the word caulis, a stalk, had a generic meaning applying to the cabbage race in general. We may hence surmise that this was the common form in ancient times, in like manner as coles or coleworts in more modern times imply the cultivation of kales. This word coles or caulis is used in the generic sense, for illustration, by Cato, 200 years B. C.; by Columella the first century A. D.; by Palladius in the third; by Vegetius in the fourth century A. D.; and Albertus Magnus in the thirteenth. This race of chevaliers may be quite reasonably supposed to be the levis of Cato, sometimes called caulodes. According to De Candolle, this race of chevaliers has five principal subraces, of which the following is an incomplete synonymy:

<center>'''I.'''</center>

*Chou branchu du Poitou. Vilm. 135. 1883.

*Chou mille têtes. Vilm. 1. c.

<center>'''II. a.''' ''viridis''.</center>

*Chou cavalier. Vilm. 134. 1883.

*Brassica vulgaris alba. Chabr. 290. 1677.

<center>'''II. b.''' ''rubra''.</center>

*Flanders kale. Burr 233. 1863.

*Caulet de Flander. Vilrn. 134. 1883.

<center>'''III.'''</center>

*Chou a feuilles de Chene. De Cand. Mem. 10. 1821.

*Buda kale. Vilm. 141. 1885.

<center>'''IV. a.'''</center>

*Tall Green Curled. Burr 236. 1863.

*Chou frise vert grand. Vilm. 131. 1883.

<center>'''IV. b.'''</center>

*Chou plume ou Chou aigrette. De Cand. Mem. 11. 1821.

*Ornamental kales of our gardens.

<center>'''V.'''</center>

*Cockscomb kale. Burr 232. 1863.

*Chou frise prolifere. Vilm. 133. 1883.

<center>'''THE DWARF KALES'''.</center>

De Candolle does not bring these into his classification as offering true types, and in this perhaps he is right. Yet, olericulturally considered, they are quite distinct. There are but few varieties. The best marked is the Dwarf Curled, the leaves falling over in a graceful curve and reaching to the ground. This kale can be traced through variations and varieties to our first class, and hence it has probably been derived in recent times through a process of selection, or through the preservation of a natural variation. There is an intermediate type between the Dwarf Curled and the Tall Curled forms in the intermediate Moss Curled.

<center>'''THE PORTUGAL KALES'''.</center>

Two kales have the extensive rib system and the general aspect of the Portugal cabbage. These are the chou brocoli and the chou frise de mosbach of Vilmorin. These bear the same relation to Portugal cabbage that common kale bears to the heading cabbages.

== ''Brassica oleracea botrytis cymosa'' DC. ==

Vilmorin says: "The sprouting or asparagus broccoli, represents the first form exhibited by the new vegetable when it ceased to be the earliest cabbage and was grown with an especial view to its shoots; after this, by continued selection and successive improvements, varieties were obtained which produced a compact, white head, and some of these varieties were still further improved into kinds which are sufficiently early to commence and complete their entire growth in the course of the same year; these last named kinds are now known as cauliflowers."

== ''Brassica oleracea bullata gemmifera'' DC. ==

Allied to this class is the Tree cabbage, or Jersey cabbage, which attains an extreme height of 16 feet, bearing a comparatively small, open cabbage on the summit, the Thousand-headed cabbage, the Poiton cabbage, and the Marrow cabbage, the stems of which last are succulent enough to be boiled for food. In 1806, McMahon describes brussels sprouts, but he does not include them in his list of American garden esculents so they were not at that time in very general use. Fessenden, 1828, mentions the Thousand-headed cabbage but it does not seem to have been known to him personally. Thorbum, in his catalog for 1828, offers its seed for sale, but one variety only, and in 1881, two varieties.

== ''Brassica oleracea bullata major'' DC. ==

This race of cabbage is distinguished by the blistered surface of its leaves and by the formation of a loose or little compacted head. Probably the heading cabbages of the ancient Romans belong to this class, as, in their descriptions, there are no indications of a firm head, and at a later period this form is named as if distinctly Roman. Thus, Ruellius, 1536, describes under the name romanos a loose-heading sort of cabbage but does not describe it particularly as a Savoy. This sort probably is the Brassica italica tenerrima glomerosa flore albo figured by J. Bauhin, 1651, its origin, judging from the name, being ascribed to Italy; it is also figured by Chabraeus, 1677, under the same name and with the additional names of Chou d'ltalie and Chou de Savoys. In the Adversaria and elsewhere, this kind is described as tender and as not extending to northern climates. This form, so carefully pictured as existing under culture, has doubtless been superseded by better varieties. It has been cultivated in English gardens for three centuries. In 1806, McMahon mentions three savoys for American gardens. In 1828, Thorbum offers in his catalog seeds of five varieties and in 1881 offers seed of but three.

== ''Brassica oleracea capita'' DC. ==

Our present cabbages are divided by De Candolle into five types or races: the flat-headed, the round-headed, the egg-shaped, the elliptic and the conical. Within each class are many sub-varieties. In Vilmorin's Les Plantes Potageres, 1883, 57 kinds are described, and others are mentioned by name. In the Report of the New York Agricultural Experiment Station for 1886, 70 varieties are described, excluding synonyms. In both cases the savoys are treated as a separate class and are not included. The histories of De Candolle's forms are as follows:

<center>'''FLAT-HEADED CABBAGE'''.</center>

Type, Quintal. The first appearance of this form is in Pancovius Herbarium, 1673, No. 612. A Common Flatwinter, probably this form, is mentioned by Wheeler, 1763; the Flat-topped is described by Mawe, 1778. The varieties that are now esteemed are remarkably flat and solid.

<center>'''ROUND CABBAGE'''.</center>

The descriptive synonymy includes the losed cabbage, a great round cabbage of Lyte's Dodoens, 1586; the White Cabbage Cole of Gerarde, 1597; the White Cabbage of Ray, 1686; the chou pomme blanc of Toumefort, 1719; the English of Townsend, 1726; the Common White of Wheeler, 1763; the English or Late, of Stevenson, 1765; the Common Round White of Mawe, 1778.

<center>'''EGG-SHAPED CABBAGE'''.</center>

Type, the Sugar-loaf. Vilmorin remarks of this variety, the Sugar-loaf, that, although a very old variety and well known in every country in Europe, it does not appear to be extensively grown anywhere. It is called chou chicon in France and bundee kobee in India. It is mentioned by name by Townsend, 1726; by Wheeler, 1763; by Stevenson, 1765; and by Mawe, 1778. Perhaps the Large-sided cabbage of Worlidge and the Long-sided cabbage of Quintyne belong to this division.

<center>'''ELLIPTIC CABBAGE'''.</center>

Type, Early York. This is first mentioned by Stevenson, 1765, and he refers to it as a well-known sort. According to Burr, it came originally from Flanders. There are now many varieties of this class.

<center>'''CONICAL CABBAGE'''.</center>

It is very remarkable, says Unger, that the European and Asiatic names used for different species of cabbage may all be referred to four roots. The names kopf kohl (German), cabus (French), cabbage (English), kappes, kraut, kapost, kaposta, kapsta (Tartar), kopee (Beng.), kopi (Hindu), have a manifest relation to the Celto-Slavic root cap or kap, which in Celtic means head. Brassica of Pliny is derived from the Celtic, bresic cabbage. The Celto-Germanico-Greek root caul may be detected in the word kaol, the Grecian kaulion of Theophrastus, the Latin caulis; also in the words caulx, cavolo, coan, kohl, kale, kaal (Norwegian), kohl (Swedish), col (Spanish), kelum (Persian); finally, the Greco-Germanic root cramb, krambe, passes into krumb, karumb of the Arabians. The want of a Sanscrit name shows that the cabbage tribe first found its way at a later period to India and China. This tribe is not mentioned as in Japan by Thunberg, 1775.

== ''Brassica oleracea capitata rubra'' DC. ==

The first certain mention of this cabbage is in 1570, in Pena and Lobel's Adversarial and figures are given by Gerarde, 1597, Matthiolus, 1598, Dodonaeus, 1616, and J. Bauhin, 1651. These figures are all of the spherical-headed type. In 1638, Ray notices the variability in the colors upon which a number of our seedsmen's varieties are founded. The oblong or the pointed-headed types which now occur cannot be traced. The solidity of the head and the perfectness of the form in this class of cabbage indicate long culture and a remote origin. In England, they have never attained much standing for general use, and, as in this country, are principally grown for pickling.

<center>'''COLLARDS OR COLEWORT'''.</center>

As grown in the United States, collards, or colewort, are sowings of an early variety of cabbage in rows about one foot apart to be cut for use as a spinach when about six or eight inches high. Other directions for culture are to sow seeds as for cabbage in June, July and August for succession, transplant when one month old in rows a foot apart each way, and hoe frequently. The collard plants are kept for sale by seedsmen, rather than the cabbage seed under this name. In the Southern States, collards are extensively grown and used for greens and after frost the flavor is esteemed delicious.

== ''Brassica oleracea caulo-rapa communis'' DC. ==

<center>'''I.'''</center>

*Caulorapum. Cap. Epit. 251. 1586.

<center>'''II.'''</center>

*Br. caule rapum gerens. Dod. Pempt. 625. 1616.

*Rapa brassica. Bodaus 777. 1644.

<center>'''III.'''</center>

*Br. caulorapa. Bauh. J. 2:830. 1651.

*Br. caulorapa sive Rapo caulis. Chabr. 270. 1677.

<center>'''IV.'''</center>

*Caulorapum rotundum. Ger. 250. 1597.

*Brassica gongylodes. Matth. Opera 367. 1598.

<center>'''V.'''</center>

Matthiolus, as we have stated, says the plant came into Germany from Italy; Pena and Lobel say it came from Greece; Gerarde, that it grows in Italy, Spain and Germany, whence he received seeds. This plant was an inmate of the Old Physic Garden in Edinburgh before 1683. In 1734, it was first brought into field culture in Ireland; in Scotland in 1805; and in England in 1837. In the United States, it was mentioned by McMahon, 1806. Fessenden, 1828, names two varieties, one the aboveground and the other the below-ground tumip-rooted. Darwin speaks of the recently formed new race, already including nine subvarieties, in which the enlarged part lies beneath the ground like a turnip. Two varieties are used in France in ornamental gardening, the leaves being cut and frizzled, and the artichoke-leaved variety is greatly prized for decoration by confectioners. These excerpts indicate a southern origin, for this vegetable and the Marrow cabbage are very sensitive to cold. The more highly improved forms, as figured in our synonymy, are in authors of northern or central Europe, while the unimproved forms are given by more southern writers. This indicates that the present kohlrabi received its development in northern countries. The varieties now grown are the White and Purple, in early and late forms, the Curledleaf, or Neapolitan, and the Artichoke-leaved.

== ''Brassica oleracea costata oblonga'' DC. ==

*B. oleracea costata. DC. Trans. Hort. Soc. Lond. M. 5:12. 1824.

*Chou aux grosses cotes. Vilm. 1883.

== ''Brassica sinapistrum'' Boiss. ==