178 



BRASSICA 



BBASSICA 



BB. I/vs. {except upon the flower-stem) thin and green: 



fls. smaller and bright yellow, less prominently 



clawed, 

 c Plant potentially biennial {that is, the root hard and 



thickened, often distinctly tuberous): foliage firm 



in texture. 



D. Foliage distinctly hairy. 

 Bd.pa, Linn. Common Turnip. Lvs. prominently 

 lyrate or interrupted below, the root tuberous. —Whatever 

 the origin of the Rutabaga and Turnip may be, the two 

 plants show good botanical characters. The tubers of 

 the two are different in season, texture and flavor. In 

 the Rutabaga, the small leaves immediately following 

 the seed-leaves are sparsely hairy, but all subsequent 

 leaves are entirely smooth, densely glaucous-blue, thick 

 and cabbage-like, with a ileshy petiole and midrib. In 

 the Turnip, the radical leaves are always more or less 

 hairy, and they are green and radish-like, thin, with 

 slender petiole, and the leaves are much more lyrate, 

 with interrupted leaflets on the petiole ; the small leaves 

 following the seed-leaves are also thinner and narrower 

 and more deeply scalloped. In the Rutabaga, the flow- 

 ers are large and more cabbage-like, whereas in the 

 Turnip they are small, yellow and mustard-like, with 

 shorter claws and more spreading calyx. The Turnips 

 vary in hairiness, but the cone of expanding leaves, 

 or the "heart-leaves," always 

 shows the hairs distinctly, 

 while the heart-leaves of the 

 Rutabagas are entirely gla- 



feathered petioles, sharply and irregularly toothed, with 

 a thin bloom : beak of the pod more abrupt : root dis- 

 tinctly hard and tuberous. — This vegetable appeared in 

 France in 1882 from seeds sent by Dr. Bretschneider, 

 of the Russian legation, Pekin. It was offered by Amer. 

 seedsmen as early as 1889. The plant is a biennial, 

 with thin, bluish foliage, and a small tuberous root like 

 a conical turnip. These roots reach a diameter of 3 or 

 4 inches, and are scarcely distinguishable from white 

 turnips in appearance, texture and flavor. In China the 

 tubers are used as a winter vegetable, the seeds being 

 sown in summer. The plant is native to China. It does 

 not appear to have been brought to the attention of 

 botanists until Bretschneider published am account of it 

 in a French journal in 1881. PaillieuK and Bois (Le 

 Potager d'un Curieux) regard it as a variety of Srassica 

 juncea, to which the Chinese mustard belongs, but it is 

 very different from that plant. It is nearly related to 

 Pak-Choi, and it may have sprung from the same spe- 

 cies; but it is clearly distinguished by its sharply 

 toothed lvs., one of which is shown in Fig. 264. 



00. Plant truly anmial: foliage profuse, loose and soft. 



Pe-tsili, Bailey. Pe-tsai 



Cabbage. Fig. 265. Nu- 

 merous radical lvs., large 

 and light green, oblong or 

 ovate-oblong, crinkled and 

 very veiny, and the mar- 

 gins wavy, contracted into 

 a flat and ribbed petiole 1-3 



261. Flowers of Rutabag:a 

 Brassica campestris (X 3^). 



262. Pak-Choi — Brassica Chlnensis. 



brous, fleshy, and remind one of the young shoots of 

 sea-kale. The Turnip usually produces seed freely if 

 the bottoms are left in the ground over winter ; and 

 thereby the plant spreads, becoming a true annual and a 

 bad weed, with a slender, hard root. 



DD. Foliage not hairy. 



Chin^nsia, Linn. Pak-Choi Cabbage. Figs. 262, 263. 

 Radical lvs. wavy and ample, glossy green, obovate or 

 round-obovate in general outline, either entire or ob- 

 scurely wavy or even crenate, tapering to a distinct and 

 thick, strong petiole, which is generally not prominently 

 margined ; pod large and tapering into a beak half an 

 inch long; root sometimes tuberous. — This plant is 

 grown by the American Chinese, and is occasionally 

 seen in other gardens (see Bailey, Bull. 67, Cornell Exp. 

 Sta. ). It is impossible to determine if this particular 

 plant is the one which LinnsBus meant to distinguish by 

 his Brassica Ghinensis, but it best answers the de- 

 scription in his Amcenitates (vol. 4). In Linnaeus' her- 

 barium is a Brassica marked " Chlnensis " in his own 

 handwriting, but it is purple-fld. and has lyrate-lobed 

 lvs., whereas Linnaeus described his plant as having 

 yellow fls. and Cynoglossum-like lvs. 



napildrmis, Bailey (SinApis jiincea, yar. napifdrmis, 

 Paill. & Bois ) . Tubebods-rooted Chinese Mustard. 

 Fig. 264. Radical lvs. comparatively few, the blade thin 

 and oval in outline, and on long and slender, slightly 



in. wide, which is provided with a wide, thin, notched or 

 wavy wing; stem lvs. sessile and clasping; pod of me- 

 dium size, with a short cone-like beak. — The Pe-tsai, or 

 Chinese Cabbage, is no longer a novelty in Amer. gar- 

 dens, although it does not appear to be well known, and 

 its merits are not understood. Its cultivation and pecu- 

 liarities were described in France as long ago as 1840, 

 by P^pin, who says that, while the plant had been 

 known in botanic gardens for 20 years, it was brought to 

 notice as a culinary vegetable only three years before 

 he wrote. It appears to have attracted little attention 

 in Europe until very recent years, however, and it is 

 still included in the second edition of Paillieux & Bois' 

 Le Potager d'un Curieux, 1892. It began to attract at- 

 tention in the United States probably about 15 years 

 ago. The leaves tend to form an oblong, loose head, 

 like Cos lettuce. See Cabbage. 



Japdnica, Sieb. California Peppee-qrass. Pot- 

 herb Mustard. Pig. 26G. Rather numerous radical 

 lvs., oblong or oblong-obovate, the margins either 

 crisped or cut into many very fine divisions, the petiole 

 distinct at its lower end ; stem lvs. all petioled ; pod 

 very small, with a slender beak.— The soft, thin lvs. 

 make excellent "greens." Long known, but with no 

 designative name, in old gardens in this country, and 

 occasionally runs wild. Int. in 1890 by John Lewis 

 Childs as California Pepper-grass. A very worthy 

 plant (see Bull. 67, Cornell Exp. Sta.), 



