RECENT CHINESE VEGETABLES. 189 



There is even good reason for separating the two types of Chinese cab- 

 bage—the Pe-Tsai and Pak-Choi — into two species^ for they differ widely in 

 their leaf characters and pods ; and the former is truly annual, while the 

 latter is evidentl)' normally biennial. The Chinese cabbage has been under- 

 stood to be the Brassica Chinensis of Linnaeus, but Linnseus' description 

 is not explicit and it does not fit the Pe-Tsai, although it designates fairly 

 well the characters of Pak-Choi. The remarkably broad-winged flat petioles 

 would not have escaped Linnseus' description if he had had the Pe-Tsai 

 type before him, and his comparison of the fo iage to that of the cj-noglos- 

 sum suggests Pak-Choi rather than Pe-Tsai. Louriero, however, explicitly 

 describes the Pe-Tsai as Sinapis Pekinen sis \a.r. Pe-Tsai, and I have raised 

 this variety to specific rank under Brassica, theigenus with which Sinapis is 

 now united by most botanists. I have ventured to use Linnaeus' name for 

 the Pak-Choi, although it is impossible, without an examination of his her- 

 barium, to detemine the plant which he had in mind 



The tuberous rooted Chinese mustard is regarded as a variety of Brassica 



jimcea by Paillieux and Bois, but it is widely different from that plant, not 



only in its biennial character but in distinct leaf characters and glaucosity. 



It is most closely allied to Pak-Choi, but the leaf characters in the two are 



so unlike that I have felt obliged to regard them as distinct species. 



The five types of Chinese cabbages and mustards here considered may be 

 distinguished as follows : 



* Plant potentially biennial (i. e., the root hard and thickened, often dis- 

 tinctly tuberous) ; foliage firm in texture. 



I. Brassica Chinensis*, Linn. Amoen. iv. 2S0 (1759). Pak-Choi, etc. 



Radical leaves numerous and large, glossy-green, obovate or round-obovate 

 in general outline and entire or obscurely wavy or crenate, tapering into a 

 distinct thick petiole, which is not at all or verj' little margined or sometimes 

 with a few leaf-like lobes ; flowering stem and its leaves more or less glaucous, 

 the leaves obovate or oblong and clasping ; flowers light yellow ; pods large 

 and long and rather slender (about 3 in.) and firm, tapering into a cylindrical 

 and sharp beak a half inch long. 



Linnaeus' description of the species is as follows : 



"Brassica(chinensis) foliis ovalibus subintegerrimus,floralibus amplexicaul- 

 ibus lanceolatis, calycibus ungue petalorum longioribus. 



" Habitat in China. Dn. Osbeck attulit semina. 



" Descr. Folia oblonga seu ovalia, simillima cynoglosso, obtusa sed glabra; 

 caulina amplexicaulid, oblonga, integerrima. Flores,ut in Brassica oleracea- 

 lutei. Calyx unguibus petalorum lougior, uude hians and interpetala promi- 

 nens. Stamina longiora. Siliquse parum compressae." 



2. Brassica napiformis. Toberous-Rooted Chinese Mustard. 



Sinapis juncea, var. napiformis, Paillieux and Bois, Le Potagerd'un 

 Curieux, 2nd ed. 372 (1S92). 



♦Sinapis Chinensis pf Linnseus, is a different plant. 



