STURTEVANT S NOTES ON EDIBLE PLANTS 1 1 1 



in which he says it was a stranger in England until within these five years and was called 

 "sprout colli -flower," or Italian asparagus.' In 1729, Switzer^ says there are several 

 kinds that he has had growing in his garden near London these two years: " that with 

 small, whitish-yellow flowers like the cauliflower; others like the common sprouts and 

 flowers of a'i:olewort; a third with purple flowers; all of which come mixed together, none 

 of them being as yet (at least that I know of) ever sav'd separate." In 1778, Mawe,' 

 names the Early Purple, Late Purple, White or Cauliflower-broccoli and the Black. In 

 1806, McMahon* mentions the Roman or Purple, the Neapolitan or White, the Green 

 and the Black. In 1821, Thorbum^ names the Cape, the White and the Purple, and, 

 in 1828, in his seed list, mentions the Early White, Early Purple, the Large Purple Cape 

 and the White Cape or Cauliflower-broccoli. 



The first and third kind of Switzer, 1729, are doubtless the heading broccoli, while 

 the second is probably the sprouting form. These came from Italy and as the seed came 

 mixed, we may assume that varietal distinctions had not as yet become recognized, and 

 that hence all the types of the broccoli now grown have originated from Italy. It is 

 interesting to note, however, that at the Cirencester Agricultural College, about i860, 

 sorts of broccoU were produced, with other variables, from the seed of wild cabbage.* 



Vilmorin says:^ " 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 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 sufficiently early to 

 commence and complete their entire growth in the course of the same year; these last 

 named kinds are now known as cauliflowers." 



B. oleracea bullata gemmifera DC. Brussels sprouts. 



This vegetable, in this country, grown only in the gardens of amateurs, yet deserving 

 more esteem, has for a type-form a cabbage with an elongated stalk, bearing groups of 

 leaf-buds in the axils of the leaves. Sometimes occurring as a monstrosity, branches 

 instead of heads are developed. Quite frequently an early cabbage, after the true head 

 is removed, will develop small cabbages in the leaf-axils, and thus is formed the Brassica 

 capitata polycephalos of Dalechamp,^ 1587, which he himself describes as a certain unused 

 and rare kind. 



Authors ' have stated that brussels sprouts have been grown from time immemorial 

 about Brussels, in Belgium; but, if this be so, it is strange that they escaped the notice of the 



' Martyn Miller Card. Did. 1807. Preface. 

 ' Switzer Raising Veg. 2. 1729. 



Mawe and Abercrombie Univ. Card. Bot. 1778. 



McMahon, B. Amer. Card. Cal. 310. 1806. 

 ' Thorburn Cat. 182 1. 



'Agr.Caz. 217. 1879. 



' Vilmorin Les Pis. Potag. 151. 1883. 



Dalechamp Hist. Gen. PL (Lugd.) 521. 1587. 



Booth, W.B. Treas. Bot. 1:167. 1874. 



