164 PLANTS AND MAN 



SPROUTS possess the peculiar habit of producing many axillary 

 buds on the main stem, which develop into miniature cabbage 

 heads, but more tender and delicate-flavored. In the common 

 CABBAGE plant, the shortened stem produces a dense cluster of 

 overlapping leaves which form a gigantic bud. There are vari- 

 eties with smooth and some with wrinkled leaves, with red color 

 as well as green. Grown throughout the world, it is sometimes 

 known as "the poor man's vegetable" and, because of its wide- 

 spread cultivation in that country, also as "the national flower 

 of England." Like most leafy foods, cabbage is mostly water 

 (over 90%), with some starches, proteins and lime salts in solu- 

 tion. Eaten raw, it is known as slaw; fermented in brine, it is 

 sauerkraut. Cabbage is grown in practically every state as a 

 local crop; commercially it is produced in New York, Texas, 

 Wisconsin, South Carolina and Florida. Kohlrabi is a variety 

 in which the leaves form no head, and where only the enlarged 

 turnip-like stem is eaten. Used as a human food abroad, in this 

 country it is grown only as a stock food. 



In cauliflower and broccoli the edible portion includes chiefly 

 flower parts. Cauliflower plants develop a large inflorescence 

 in which the mass of flowers forms a fused head, immature when 

 cauliflower is picked for market; a few of the leaves are usually 

 left surrounding the flowers. Cauliflower is a cool season crop 

 in Texas, where it is grown in late winter. Broccoli plants 

 produce smaller heads and larger leaves; the edible portion of 

 both leaves and flowers is green rather than blanched as in 

 cauliflower. Both of these cabbage varieties have been cultivated 

 for centuries, being especially prized by the Greeks. 



Parsley, in the same family with carrots and parsnips, has 

 also been used since the times of the ancients as a garnish and 

 salad plant; it produces a whorl of tender dark-green leaves the 

 first season, which are the edible portion of the plant. 



Lettuce has wild relatives living today as common roadside 

 weeds in both the new and the old worlds. The cultivated vari- 

 eties are derived from south European and western Asiatic stock. 

 Nearly all the varieties grown today were known in Europe 

 before the Middle Ages. Lettuce is also a cool season crop, pre- 

 ferring elevated plateaus and mountainous regions. Since 1900 it 



