GREEN VEGETABLES. 



33 



as cymae. These sprouts, in fact, are small shoots thrown out from 

 the main stem, of a more delicate and tender quality than the cabbage 

 itself. After the cymae have made their appearance the cabbage 

 throws out its summer and autumn shoots, and then its winter ones, 

 after which a new crop of cymae is produced." 



It has been suggested that cymae (or cymata, as Oolumella writes 

 it) were vegetative buds developed as leafy shoots. If so, this would 

 be just like the form now cultivated as the " thousand-headed kale," 

 adaptable for sheep. 



The various kinds named and described by Pliny are as follows : 

 " (1) Tritiana; (2) Cumanian, with leaves close to the ground and a 



FIG. 14. RAPE COLE (Caulorapum rotundum), AFTER GERARD, 1597. 



wide open head; (3) Ariciman, of no greater height, but with more 

 numerous leaves and thinner (-this last is looked upon as the most 

 useful of them all, for beneath nearly all of the leaves there are small 

 shoots thrown out, peculiar to the variety) ; (4) the cabbage of Pompeii 

 is considerably taller, the stalk, which is thin at the root, increasing in 

 thickness as it rises among the leaves, which are fewer in number and 

 narrower (the great merit of this cabbage is its remarkable tenderness, 

 although it is not able to stand the cold*); (5) the Bruttum thrives all 

 the better for the cold, its leaves are remarkably large, the stalk thin 

 and the flavour pungent; (6) the Sabine has leaves crisped to such a 



.* The above description of No. 4 agrees remarkably with the Chou Moellier 

 Blanc, described above. 



