42 ORIGIN AND HISTORY OF OUR GARDEN VEGETABLES. 



the leafe it selfe, except yee take and put aside some of those iagges and 

 ragged leaues with your hande. " 



He does not say whether these proliferous sorts were cultivated, but 

 such outgrowths from the ribs on the under side of the leaves are not 

 at all uncommon. They sometimes take the form of funnels on long 

 stalks. 



Messrs. Carter inform me that " there is a kind of borecole cabbage 

 grown for the Paris markets at the end of winter called Bricoli Cabbage ; 

 we fancy we have noticed the crested growth you mention coming from 

 the back of the ribs of this variety." 



Inflorescence. The broccoli and cauliflower supply globular masses 

 of hypertrophied inflorescences, the flowers being in bud, the name 

 implying " flowers of the stem " (caulis). It is known as " chou-fleur " 

 in French, broccoli being the Italian name, from brocco, a " shoot " ; f or 

 the primitive type was probably not a compact mass but a bundle of 

 shoots, as occurs in the Maltese broccoli to-day. Gerard's figure, 

 described above, is a very primitive form of the modern massive head. 

 (Fig. 16.) 



" The sprouting or asparagus broccoli represents the first form 

 exhibited by the new vegetable when it ceased to be the earliest cabbage, 

 and was grown with an especial view to its [flowering] shoots. After 

 this, by continued selection and successive improvements, varieties 

 were obtained which produced a compact white head, and some of 

 these varieties were still further improved into kinds which are suf- 

 ficiently early to commence and complete their rustic growth in the 

 course of the same year. These last-named kinds are now known by 

 the name of cauliflower. ' ' * 



With regard to the two principal modern forms of sprouting 

 broccoli, Mr. Button writes : " ' The White Sprouting Broccoli ' has 

 been known as such for at least fifty years, and is carefully selected 

 year by year to the best type. Purple sprouting broccoli, on the other 

 hand, may or may not have been developed from the old ' Purple Cape ' 

 broccoli; but in habit of growth it more resembles a closer, more 

 compact form of the thousand-headed kale, the edges of the leaves 

 being serrated, and the plant much branched, the small purple heads 

 eventually developing into flower buds." 



The " heads," as sold in Malta, appear to be more like a degenerate 

 form of English broccoli, as they are not round and compact, but loose 

 and in spikes, without bearing leaves, whereas our sprouting broccolis 

 are derived from the lateral leafy shoots of the stem (as in thousand- 

 headed kale), but terminate in an inflorescence. The earliest notice of 

 this variety appears to be in Miller's " Dictionary," 1724, where it is 

 called the ' Sprout Colliflower. ' It seems to have originated in Italy. 

 Being sown in September there, as in Malta, it is cut in April or May. 



The Cauliflower was earlier known, being mentioned by Dodonaeus 

 1553 or 1559 and figured by Gerard, 1597, though it was rare in 

 Parkinson's time, 1629. 



* The Vegetable Garden, 1885, p. 95. 



