30 



ORIGIN AND HISTORY OF OUR GARDEN VEGETABLES. 



Stem. There are two forms of the stem in use; the most important 

 is the Kohl-rabi (var. Caulorapa), remarkable for its globular form. It 

 is not clear whether it was known to the ancients, but Pliny's descrip- 

 tion of the " Corinthian " turnip seems to agree with it. He says: 

 " The root is all but out of the ground ; indeed, this is the only kind 

 that in growing shoots upwards, and not, as all the others do, down- 

 wards into the ground." 



It appears to have been introduced into Germany from Italy about 

 1558, and into Tripoli about 1574. Dodoens, who figures five kinds 

 of Brassica, omits it (1559); so also does Lobel (1576); but Dodoens, in 

 his " History of Plants " (second edition, date ?), says of No. 4 : "It 



FIG. 11. WILD CABBAGE AS GROWING ON CHALK CLIFFS, S.E. ENGLAND. 



beareth a great round knop like a Turnep, the which groweth right 

 under the leaves, even hard upon the ground, and is white within, like 

 a Turnep, and is even so drest and prepared to be eaten." This, pre- 

 sumably, was in Holland, about 1570. 



Matthiolus, in his " Commentary on Dioscorides " (1574), has a 

 good figure of Kohl-rabi under the name Brassica gongylodes. He 

 says it is cultivated in the gardens of Italy, and observes that the stem 

 becomes tuberous, like that of the rape (" cujus caulis rapi in morem 

 extuberat "). 



A very poor specimen is figured in the " Historia Plantarum,'' 

 generally attributed to Dalechamp, printed at Lyon (Lugdunum). If 

 anything can be inferred from it, it would seem not to have been much 



