40 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Feb. 



only a variety of the savoy, with an elongated stem, from the sides 

 of which spring out small green heads like cabbages in miniature. 

 If the stem be examined, these sprouts will be found invariably to 

 start just above the scars left by the fallen outer leaves. The 

 cauliflower (B. 0., cauliflora). In the cauliflower we eat the fleshy 

 flower, stalks, and undeveloped buds, which are crowded together 

 into a compact mass. It was a favorite saying of the great lexico- 

 grapher, Dr. Johnson — " Of all the flowers of the garden, I like 

 the cauliflower the best I" a sentiment worthy of that learned epic- 

 ure. The cauliflower was first brought from the Isle of Cyprus, 

 about the beginning of the seventeenth century. Brocoli. — The 

 name is Italian. This is only a sub-variety of the cauliflower, 

 distinguished from it by the dark green or purple color of the 

 head. It is also a much hardier plant, and stands the winter. 



These varieties of the cabbage illustrate in the most striking 

 manner the changes which are produced in species by cultivation, 

 and the permanence of some varieties or races. They also give us 

 instructive lessons in the economy of vegetable life. 



The Turnip (Brasslca campestris). — This plant is found wild in 

 many parts of England, by the sides of rivers, ditches,and marshes, 

 but is probably an only introduced plant. It grows spontaneously 

 over all Europe, from the Baltic to the Caucasus. The wild form 

 has hispid, lyrate root-leaves ; those of the stem are smooth am- 

 plexicaule or stem-clasping. The flowers are yellow; the pod 

 cylindric. The turnip, like the cabbage, has produced several 

 varieties, the result of long cultivation, as for example the common 

 cultivated species of turnip (B. C, var. Rapa), and the Swedish 

 turnip (B. C, var. Rutabaga), the root of which is yellowish and 

 sub-globose. This last variety, which is the most valuable to the 

 British farmer, has long been grown in Sweden and Germany, and 

 was probably known to the ancients. It was first cultivated in 

 England in 1781, having been brought over originally from Gotten- 

 berg. Besides these there is another valuable variety (B. C, var. 

 oleifera, DC), which is largely cultivated in France and other Eu- 

 ropean countries for the oil contained in its seeds, which, under the 

 name of Colza oil, is used for lamps, giving a very brilliant light. The 

 idea of cultivating these plants for the oil contained in their seeds 

 could only originate in those countries where the olive was not in- 

 troduced, or yielded uncertain crops. Colza oil has been used for 

 more than two centuries in the north of France, and its use pro- 

 bably dates back to a still more ancient period. The Greeks and 



