48 



DESCRIPTIVE BOTANY. 



rives at perfection in cool, damp climates, but is successfully cultivated iu the 

 edge of the torrid zoue during the wet, cooler season, and is found under 

 cultivation iu a broad zoue all around the world, north of the twenty-fifth 

 parallel, and has been carried to Australia and the islands of the Pacific. 



Etymology. — Brasslca is the Latinized Celtic name for cabbage, the signi- 

 fication of which is not apparent. 



(Jleracea, the specific name of the cabbage, comes from the Latin olns a pot- 

 herb. ' ^ 



History. — The home of this plant is middle and western Europe. It is 

 not known Avhen it was fir.^t used as food, but there is reason to believe 

 it was so used very early in the history of European peoples ; and it has be- 

 come so great a favorite that its spread 

 throughout the world is limited only by 

 civilization. Wherever colonization has 

 occurred, climate permitting, the cab- 

 bage has followed. 



The ancients knew it. Theophrastus, 

 who lived three hundred years before 

 the Christian era, wrote of it, and 

 Pliny also mentions it and speaks of its 

 cultivation. 



Use. — The most common use of this 

 plant is iu the character of a pot-herb, 

 and it is universally esteemed. It is 

 also prepared as a salad, under the name 

 of Cold Chou, which has been corrupted 

 into Cold Slaw. The Scotch call it 

 Cauld Kail. In Germany and all north- 

 ern European nations large quantities 

 of cabbage are made into Sauer-kraut. 

 It is chopped fine and packed tightly 

 into casks, with alternate layers of salt, 

 and being kept under heavy pressure it 

 soon arrives at a state of fermentation. 

 When it begins to ferment it is fit for use, and is removed to a cool place. 

 It is eaten with oil or other dressings, and is a very important article of food 

 in all northern Europe. 



Sauer-kraut soup, with rye-bread and occasionally a little pork, is the daily 

 food of the Russian peasant. Cabbage is also an important food for cattle, 

 and especially for milch cows. 



2. B. alba, Gray. (White Mustard.) Stem 2 to 5 feet high, stouter than 

 No. 1, much branched. Leaves petioled, lyrate, or subpinnate; terminal seg- 

 ment large, 3-lobed. Flowers yellow, in racemes ; petals larger than in No. 1, 

 and seeds fewer. June to August. Fruits in August. 



3. B. nigra, Koch. (Black Mustard.) Stem from 3 to 6 feet high, diffusely 

 branched, smooth or hairy. Leaves petioled, and variously lobed and toothed ; 

 green above and lighter beneath. Flowers in slender racemes, greenish-yel- 

 low. Seeds dark-brown, sharp to the taste. Annual. June, July. Fruits 

 in August. 



4. B. juncea, Hooker and Thompson. A coarser species, the seeds of which 

 are rich in oil, yielding about 20 per cent of their weight. 



Bore cole (Tree Cabbage). 



