112 STURTEV ant's NOTES ON EDIBLE PLANTS 



early botanists, who would have certainly noticed a cominon plant of such striking appear- 

 ance and have given a figure. Bauhin,' indeed, 1623, gives the name Brassica ex capitibus 

 pluribus conglohata, and adds that some plants bear 50 heads the size of an egg, but his 

 reference to Dalechamp would lead us to infer that the plant known to him was of the 

 same character as that figiu-ed by Dalechamp above noted. Lobel,^.i6ss, refers to a 

 cabbage like a Brassica polycephalos, but, as he had not seen it, he says he will affirm nothing. 

 Ray,' 1686, refers to a like cabbage. 



A. P. De Candolle,^ 1821, describes brussels sprouts as commonly cultivated in Bel- 

 gium and implies its general use in French gardens, but Booth ^ says it is only since about 

 1854 that it has been generally known in England. A correspondent ' of the Gardeners' 

 Chronicle, 1850, however, refers to the tall sorts as generally preferred to the dwarf by 

 the market gardeners about London. In American gardens, it is mentioned in 1806 ^ and 

 this implies its general use in Europe. 



But two classes are known, the tall and the dwarf, and but a few minor variations 

 in these classes. The tall is quite distinct in habit and leaf from the dwarf, the former 

 having less crowded sprouts and a more open character of plant, with leaves scarcely 

 blistered or puckered. As, however, there is considerable variation to be noted in seed- 

 lings, furnishing connecting links, the two forms may legitimately be considered as one, 

 the difference being no greater than would be explained by the observed power of selection 

 and of the influence for modification which might arise from the influence of cabbage 

 pollen. This fact of their being of but one type, even if with several variables, would 

 seem to indicate a probabiUty that the origin is to be sought for in a sport, and that our 

 present forms have been derived from a suddenly observed variable of the Savoy cabbage 

 type and, as the lack of early mention and the recent nature of modem mention presup- 

 poses, at some time scarcely preceding the last century. 



Allied to this class is the Tree cabbage, or Jersey cabbage, which attains an extreme 

 height of 16 feet, bearing a comparatively small, open cabbage on the summit, the Thou- 

 sand-headed cabbage, the Poiton cabbage, and the Marrow cabbage, the stems of which 

 last are succulent enough to be boiled for food. In 1806, McMahon ' describes brussels 

 sprouts, but he does not include them in his list of American garden esculents so they 

 were not at that time in very general use. Fessenden,^ 1828, mentions the Thousand- 

 headed cabbage but it does not seem to have been known to him personally. Thor- 

 bum,'" in his catalog for 1828, offers its seed for sale, but one variety only, and in 1881, 

 two varieties. 



Bauhin, C. Pinax 3. 1623. 



Lobel Stirp. Illustr. 82. 1655. 



Ray Hist. PL 794. 1686. 



De Candolle, A. P. Trans. Horl. Soc. Land. $-.15. 1824. 



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



'Card. Chron. 117. 1850. 



'McMahon, B. Amer. Card. Col. 580. 1806. 



McMahon, B. Amer. Card. Col. 309. 1806. 



Fessenden New Amer. Card. 59. 1828. 

 " Thorburn Cat. 1828. 



