70 CRUCIFEE^ 



on field-borders, in corn-fields, and ditches. It has several varieties ; one of 

 them, the Brassica oleifera, called the Colsa, or Colza, is one of the plants 

 cultivated for the sake of its seed, known as Cole-seed, which yields a large 

 quantity of oil. The leaves of this plant are also used as fodder for cattle, 

 and the stalks are burned for manure. It is thought to be the origin of the 

 Swedish turnip of our agriculturists, and its root, which in its wild state is 

 spindle-shaped, becomes, under culture, turnip-shaped. Sir William Hooker 

 and Dr. Arnott remark, that, in Scotland, it has never been found, except 

 where the Swedish turnip had been previously cultivated. 



2. Sea Cabbage {B. olerdcea). — Root stem-like, fleshy ; leaves lobed, 

 waved, smooth, and glaucous ; upper ones sessile, and oljlong. Plant 

 biennial. Few plants are more conspicuous on some of our sea-clifTs than 

 this Cabbage. On many of the cliffs of Devonshire, Cornwall, Wales, and 

 Yorkshire, it is plentiful ; and on the lofty heights of Dover, it is, from May 

 till the end of summer, one of the loveliest ornaments of the cliffs. Its large 

 panicle of lemon-coloured blossoins contrasts beautifully then with the pink 

 centaury, and purple knapweeds, and the rich blue of the bugloss, which 

 overtops them all. In winter, too, the old white cliffs receive some additional 

 beauty from the foliage of this plant. Much of it is yet verdant when all 

 around is fading ; and dark, purplish, red-tinted leaves mingle with those 

 which are green, and with others which are of deepest yellow, and please the 

 eye by their varied hues and graceful forms; and when the hoar-frost spangles 

 them, they seem enriched with glittering diamonds. The wind revels among 

 the cliffs, rattling as it passes the old withered stalks, which in the last 

 summer were gay with the flowers, but which now stand out from the 

 crevices like the naked boughs of some shrub. In summer, the large 

 blossoms may be seen far away up the cliff, hanging out from its very 

 summit ; or we may look at them as they cluster close by its base, or among 

 the shingle and sand, just above the high-tide mark, but often dashed l)y the 

 spray when winds are wild. The leaves have a salt and bitter flavour, but 

 repeated washings will fit this Cabbage for use, and when boiled it is a good 

 vegetable. Boys occasionally gather it from the cliff, and carry it into the 

 town for sale ; but it does not seem to be much used in the neighbourhood, 

 either by rich or poor. The common Cabbage butterfly, Ficris brassiccc, the 

 caterpillar of which makes so much havoc in the kitchen garden, does not 

 neglect the Cal)bage of the cliff, though it appears to prefer the cultivated 

 plant. This the author had the opportunity of remarking in the summer of 

 1851, when a little garden on the cliff side, redeemed from the waste, and 

 carefully tended by an industrious cottager, was visited l)y this caterpillar. 

 A large piece of land had been planted with rows of Cabbages, but not a 

 single plant was uninjured. The whole produce was completely destroyed 

 by the ravages of the devoui"ing insects, while hundreds of wild Caljbage 

 plants bloomed around with leaves unharmed, or only here and there betray- 

 ing marks of the destroyer. 



The Sea Cabbage, small as it is, with its few scattered leaves, is important 

 as having been the origin of all the giant and small Cabbages, both white and 

 red, of Savoys and Brussels Sprouts, and delicate Cauliflowers and Broccoli, 

 and all the ^^arieties of greens which the gardener raises with so much care. 



