9t M. De CandoUe on the Species and Varieties 



green, and the leaves in some individuals are nearly plain : so 

 much so, that they might be confounded with the true Cava- 

 lier ; an additional proof that this variety belongs to that race. 

 The Brassica toj)/iosa, figured by John Bauhin *, appears to 

 be a sub-variety which might be referred either to the Fringed 

 or Palm Cabbage, and tends to prove the diversities of cha- 

 racter which unite these varieties: as I have had no oppor- 

 tunity of seeing die plant itself, I cannot class it with any de- 

 gree of certainty. 



To these five varieties, which compose the race of Cavalier 

 Cabbages, I shall add a sixth, which may, in time, probably 

 be found sufficiently distinct to form another race; I mean 

 tlie Cabbage called C/iou a grosses cotes, Brassica costata 

 (Large-ribbed Cabbage). The authors who have preceded 

 me ill the classification, either rank it among the Cavaliers, or 

 pronounce it to have more resemblance to this race than to 

 any other. Its distinguishing character is a short stem, nearly 

 single, with close leaves, but especially with extremely f thick 

 ribs ; it is also known in France under the names of CJiou de 

 Beauvois, and Choic a larges cotes, and is principally sown in 

 village gardens, for the use of the family, being very abundant 

 in produce, though not very delicate in flavour. 



While cultivating the Brassica costata, I have more tlian 

 once had occasion to observe a curious sub-variety, or dege- 

 neration of the kind: some of the plants emitted from the 

 back of their primary ribs a kind of appendage, similar in 

 consistency to the footstalk of the leaves ; these append^lges 

 were of different sizes, and the largest dilating at its extremity 

 formed a concave disk resemblmg a cup or funnel. This sin- 

 gularity recalling to mind the organization of a well-known 

 plant, the Nepenthes distillatoria, I have given the name of 

 nepenthiformis to this sub-variety, and class it immediately 

 under the variety that produced it; but I should not be sur- 

 prised if the same accident wei-e to be met with in every other 

 variety of Cabbages ; and in that case, I disclaim every pre- 

 tension to rank it even with the sub-varieties, and shall consi- 

 der it only as an accidental defect. 



Tliird Race. Brassica oleracea bullata. 

 Choi/ cloque. Blistered Cabbage. 

 The Blistered or Milan Cabbage, or Savoy, known to gar- 



* John Bauhin, Hist. Plant, vol. ii. page 830, fig. 3. 



f The Cove tronc/iuda, an open Cabbage, which has recently been intro- 

 duced into the English gardens from Portugal, and which has been found so 

 excellent a vegetable, nearly agrees with the above character and descrip- 

 tion of the C/ioii a gioises cotes, —Sec, 



deners 



