Brassica
(old Latin name used by Pliny; from Bresic, the Celtic name for Cabbage). Cabbage. ORD. Cruciferae. Herbaceous, usually biennial, rarely annual or perennial, or suffrutescent plants, usually with a short caudex. Flowers yellow, rarely white, but never purple nor veined. Radical leaves usually stalked, lyrate, or pinnatifid; cauline ones sessile or stem-clasping, entire; racemes elongated; pedicels bractless, filiform. Full cultural details will be found under the popular garden name of each variety. B. oleracea (herb-like). fl. pale yellow, large. May and June. l. glaucous, waved, lobed, smooth. Root-stem cylindrical, fleshy. h. 1ft. to 3ft. England. Biennial.
B. o. acephala (headless). Borecole or Kale. Stem round, elongated. l. expanded; racemes panicled.
B. o. botrytis asparagoides (Asparagus-like). The Broccoli. fl. abortive. Stem taller than that of the Cauliflower. l. greyish-glaucous, elongated. Branchlets fleshy, bearing small flower-buds at the top. B. o. b. cauliflora (Cauliflower). Heads of flower-buds thick, terminal. Stem short. l. oblong, of a greyish-glaucous colour.
B. o. bullata gemmifera (bud-bearing). Brussels Sprouts. Heads small, numerous, rising from the axils of the leaves along an elongated stem. B. o. b. major (larger). Savoy Cabbage. Heads of leaves loose, thick, terminal, roundish. l. blistered.
B. o. capitata (headed). The Cabbage. Stem round, short. l. concave, not blistered, crowded into a head before flowering; racemes panicled. B. o. Caulo-rapa (Kohl-Rabi). Stem tumid and somewhat globose at the origin of the leaves.
B. Rapa (Rape). The Turnip. Radical leaves lyrate, destitute of glaucous bloom, green, covered with bristly hairs; middle cauline ones cut; upper ones quite entire, smooth.