.no STURTEVANT S NOTES ON EDIBLE PLANTS 



These forms occur in many varieties, differing in degree only, and of various colors, 

 even variegated. In addition to the above we may mention the proliferous kales, which 

 also occur in several varieties. The following synonyms refer to proliferation only, as 

 the plants in other respects are not similar: 

 Brassica asparagoides Dalechampii. Dalechamp 522. 1587. 

 Brassica proUfera. Ger. 245. 1597- 

 Brassica proUfera crispa. Ger. 245. 1597. 

 Cockscomb kale. Burr 232. 1863. 

 Chou frise proUfbre. Vikn. 133. 1883. 



The Dwarf Kales. 



De Candolle does not bring these into his classification as offering true types, and 

 in this perhaps he is right. Yet, olericulturally considered, they are quite distinct. There 

 are but few varieties. The best marked is the Dwarf Curled, the leaves falling over in 

 a gracefxd curve and reaching to the groimd. This kale can be traced through variations 

 and varieties to our first class, and hence it has probably been derived in recent times 

 through a process of selection, or through the preservation of a natural variation. There 

 is an intermediate type between the Dwarf Curled and the Tall Curled forms in the 

 intermediate Moss Curled. 



The Portugal Kales. 



Two kales have the extensive rib system and the general aspect of the Portugal 

 cabbage. These are the chou brocoli and the chou frise de mosbach of Vilmorin. These 

 bear the same relation to Portugal cabbage that common kale bears to the heading 

 cabbages. 



B. oleracea botaTtis cymosa DC. broccoli. 



The differences between the most highly improved varieties of the broccoli and the 

 cauliflower are very slight; in the less changed forms they become great. Hence two 

 races can be defined, the sprouting broccolis and the cauliflower broccolis. The growth 

 of the broccoli is far more prolonged than that of the cauliflower, and in the European 

 countries it bears its heads the year following that in which it is sown. It is this circiun- 

 stance that leads us to suspect that the Romans knew the plant and described it under 

 the name cyma "Cyma a prima sectione praestat proximo vere." "Ex omnibus brassicae 

 generibiis suavissima est cyma," says Pliny.* He also uses the word cyma for the seed 

 stalk which rises from the heading cabbage. These excerpts indicate the sprouting broc- 

 coli, and the addition of the word cyma then, as exists in Italy now, with the word broccoli 

 is used for a secondary meaning, for the tender shoots which at the close of winter are 

 emitted by various kinds of' cabbages and turnips preparing to flower.^ 



It is certainly very curious that the early botanists did not describe or figure broccoli. 

 The omission is only explainable under the supposition that it was confounded with the 

 cauliflower, just a Linnaeus brought the cauliflower and the broccoli into one botanical 

 variety. The first notice of broccoli is quoted from Miller's Dictionary, edition of 1724, 



' Pliny lib. 19, c. 41; lib. 20, c. 35. 

 ' Vilmorin Les Pis. Potag. 151. 1883. 



