100 STURTEVANT S NOTES ON EDIBLE PLANTS 



B. semilata H. Wendl. saw palmetto. 



Southern United States. A fecula was formerly prepared from the pith by the Florida 

 Indians. 



Brasenia schreberi J. F. Gmel. Nymphaeaceae. water shield. 



India, Japan, Australia, Tropical Africa and North America. The tuberous root- 

 stocks are collected by the California Indians for food.* 



Brassica. Cruciferae. borecole, broccoli. Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauli- 

 flower. CHARLOCK. CHINESE CABBAGE. COLLARDS. KALE. KOHL-RABI. 

 mustard. PORTUGAL CABBAGE. RAPE. RED CABBAGE. RUTABAGA. SAVOY 

 CABBAGE. TURNIPS. 



This genus, in its cultivated species and varieties, assimies protean forms. In the 

 cabbage section we have the borecoles and kales, which come nearest to the wild form; 

 green and red cabbage with great, single heads; the savoys with their blistered and wrinkled 

 leaves; brussels sprouts with nvimerous little heads; broccolis and the cauliflowers with 

 their flowers in an aborted condition and borne in a dense corymb; the stalked cabbage 

 of Jersey, which sometimes attains a height of i6 feet; the Portuguese couve tronchuda 

 with the ribs of its leaves greatly thickened ; and kohl-rabi. All of these vegetables are 

 referred by Darwin ^ to B. oleracea Linn. The other cultivated forms of the genus are 

 descended, according to the view adopted by some, from two species, B. napus Linn, and 

 B. rapa Linn.; but, according to other botanists, from three species; while others again 

 strongly suspect that all these forms, both wild and cultivated, ought to be ranked as a 

 single species. The genus, as established by Bentham, also includes the mustards. 



B. alba Boiss. white mustard. 



Europe and the adjoining portions of Asia. The cultivated plant appears to have 

 been brought from central Asia to China, where the herbage is pickled in winter or used 

 in spring as a pot-herb.' In 1542, Fuchsius,^ a German writer, says it is planted everywhere 

 in gardens. In 1597, in England, Gerarde^ says it is not common but that he has dis- 

 tributed the seed so that he thinks it is reasonably well known. It is mentioned in American 

 gardens in 1806. The young leaves, cut close to the ground before the formation of the 

 second series or rough leaves appear, form an esteemed salad. 



B. campestris Linn, turnip, rape, rutabaga. 



Turnip. 

 The turnip, says Unger,' is derived from a species growing wild at the present day 

 in Russia and Siberia as well as on the Scandinavian peninsula. From this, in course 



1 Brewer and Watson Bot. Cal. 1:16. 1880. (5. peltata) 



Darwin, C. Ans. Pis. Domest. 1:341, 342. 1893, 



' Smith, F. P. Contrib. Mat. Med. China 197. 1871. 



Fuchsius JiTti/. 5Vi>/>. 537. 1542. {Sinapsis alba) 



'Gerarde, J. Herb. igo. 1597. 



' McMahon, B. Amer. Card. Cal. 582. 1806. 



' Unger, F. U. S. Pat. Off. Rpt. 327. 1859. 



