240 The 
BRITISH HERBAL. 
the fringed cabbage: but the greateft luxuriance 
of all is the cauliflower : this is only a botryoide 
excrefcence of the fame plant. 
Thevariations in the leaves, their form, divifion, 
and difpofition, are not all we have to name in this 
plant, for the root and ftalk afford an ample fund 
for the fame fportings of Nature, thruit out of her 
common road by art. The cabbage with a round 
root, called the turnip-rooted cabbage, differs in 
nothing but this {welling of that particular part 
from the others: and the colerape, which has the 
- fwelling, not in the root below ground, but in 
the middle of the ftalk, as it is called, above, is 
“in the fame manner only a variety. 
Thus the cabbage and favay, the brocok, the 
Ga RUN 
cauliflower, and the reft, are to be confidered by 
_ the botanift only as one fpecies ; in the culture of 
which he will view with pleafure this furprifing 
variety of appearances: and, when he enters the 
ground of a London gardener, and fees the {mall 
mufcovite, the flat or the fugar-loaf cabbage, he 
will refer them all to the fame common ftock. 
The pleafant tafte and wholefome qualities of 
the cabbage have introduced it into our gar- 
dens, and recommended it to all that care un- 
der which it has made thefe various appearances. 
Eaten moderately, it is perfectly innocent and 
wholefome ;. but it will fometimes breed flatu- 
lencies. : 
U Ss IX. 
APU RNs te be 
RAPUM. 
HE flower is compofed of four petals, regularly difpofed crofs-ways: the cup is formed of four 
leaves, which fpread open, and are of the fame colour with the flower : the feed-veffel is long, 
and depreffed both ways: the feeds are large and round: the membrane, which divides the pod, 
ftands out in a point at the end. : 
Linneeus places this among the setradynamia filiquofa ; the threads in the flower being fix, four of 
which are longer than the other two, and the feed-veffel a regular pod. : 
He joins, as before obferved, the cabbage and turnip under one common genus; -but the cup fhews 
a fufficient difference, as well as the whole plant. 
DIVISION fF. 
1. Wild Navew. 
Rapum napus fylveftris diium. 
The root is long, thick, white, and furnifhed 
with a few fibres. 
The firft leaves are ong, and moderately broad: 
they are of a pale green, and are very deeply di- 
vided in an irregular manner on the edges. 
The ftalk is round, firm, upright, of a pale 
bluith green, and three feet high. 
The leaves ftand irregularly on it, and have 
no footftalks : they are unlike thofe at the root, 
broad at the bafe, where they furround or en- 
clofe the ftalk, and {maller to the point ; fome- 
times a little divided, but more frequently only 
waved at the edges. 
The flowers ftand at the tops of the ftalks and 
branches in a kind of tufts: they are fmall, and 
yellow. f 
The feed-veffel is long, and the feeds are large 
and round. bg 
It is common on the ditch-banks, and flowers 
in June; at which time it very much refembles 
the /wrnip when in flower, 
DTV 1S 1 ONeill: 
1. The common Turnip. 
Rapum vulgare. 
This plant, though fo common in our fields, 
as well as gardens, ia not a native of our 
country. 
BRITISH 
SeP°E C TES, 
C. Bauhine calls it Napus fylveftris, and moft 
others follow him. 
It is cultivated alfo in gardens, and then is called 
Napus fativa, Navew gentle, and garden-navew ; 
but though larger in this condition, it is no other 
way different. : : 
The plant which is cultivated in fome parts of 
England under the name of rape, and colefeed 
plant, is this raifed by culture to fomething like 
the figure of the garden-navew, the field-culture 
giving it a middle afpeét between the two. From 
the feed of this plant is made rape-oil. 
The feeds are alfo ufed in fome of the com- 
pound medicines of the fhops ;_ and much learned 
nonfenfe has been written to fhew, whether the 
original authors of thofe medicines intended the 
wild navew feed, or that of the garden-navew. 
The druggifts mean time ufe turnip-feed for both, 
and do no harm by the exchange: whether they 
take the rape feed, cole-feed, turnip-feed, or that of 
wild navew, the difference is little in the {mall 
proportion they bear to the whole in thofe feve- 
ral medicines. 
F O REWG'N: S:P bic TBS 
The root is Jarge, thick, and ufually roundifh: 
but in this refpect it varies greatly, fometimes 
being oblong, fometimes very flat, and at others 
a perfeét globe: from this, and from its colour, 
which is fometimes white, fometimes in part pur- 
plith, and fometimes yellow, the gardeners the and 
I farmers 
