LEAVES AND STEMS WE EAT 147 



latter have the network of veins so swollen that the 

 heads are not solid, like the smooth sort, and the 

 leaves are far more tender. "Savoy cabbage" as 

 this group of crimped-leaved varieties are called, 

 have sweeter, ' milder flavor than the smooth- 

 leaved varieties. 



Swelling of the stem was noted as a character 

 in some wild cabbage plants, and when thus dis- 

 torted the stems were tender and edible. Gradu- 

 ally this trait has been emphasized until a race of 

 turnip-like plants resulted. The leaves grow out 

 of the top and sides of a fleshy globe that sits on 

 top of the ground. This is Kohl-rabi. Another 

 race sprung from plants that had their roots 

 enlarged. The Swedish turnip, or rutabaga, 

 has its leaves clustered at the top of a thick 

 "root-stem," that sits half buried in the 

 ground. The flesh is tender, but becomes 

 stringy when left too long in the ground. The 

 flesh is yellow. The other turnip-rooted cab- 

 bages are white. 



Suppose a wild cabbage had no tendency to 

 form heads or turnips, but responded to cultiva- 

 tion by producing more and better spreading 

 green leaves. Such a plant was the parent of the 

 kale, a tree of green, intricately curled, succulent 

 leaves, used as a pot herb. We Americans use 



