SEA-SIDE PLANTS. 23 



The kale or colewort of the gardener is another 

 variety of this sea-side cabbage. Of this kind is 

 made the sauerkraut of the Germans, and it is 

 probable that several varieties were formerly in- 

 cluded in this name, as kale is mentioned among 

 the oldest English records, and the Saxon name 

 for our month of February, when leaves begin 

 again to clothe the ground, was Sprout-Kale. It 

 is at this season that the sprouts from the old 

 cabbage-stalks become fit for use, and hence their 

 name for the month. The brassica was cultivated 

 by the Romans, and also by the ancient Germans 

 from very remote periods ; and this, the botanic 

 name of the genus, seems to have been derived 

 from the Celtic word Bresic, a cabbage. 



The flowers of the cabbage are of the form 

 termed by botanists cruciferous, and are shaped 

 like a cross, as in the single stock or wall-flower of 

 the garden. This is a numerous family of plants, 

 and to it belong a very large number of our escu- 

 lent vegetables, as the turnip, the cresses, the 

 radishes, and many of our wild and garden flowers, 

 as the stocks, and rockets, and alyssums. Plants 

 of this tribe universally possess stimulant qualities, 

 combined with an acrid flavour ; and none of the 

 family are poisonous. The roots, leaves, stems, 

 and buds of many of these plants are used as food ; 

 and in all cases their seeds abound in a fixed oil, 

 which is expressed from some species for various 

 economical purposes. They may always be known 

 by the shape of their flowers ; and they are more 

 numerous in Europe than in either of the other 

 great divisions of the globe. In our own land 

 some of their number are to be found in almost 

 every field. 



