CULTIVATED CABBAGE 367 



leaves are smaller and sessile. The flowers are pale yellow, 

 often an inch in diameter, arranged in long racemes. 



The siliques are smooth, about 2 or 3 inches long, and stand 

 out from the main axis of the inflorescence. 



3. Cultivated Cabbage, and its varieties {Brassica okracea L.). 

 — Few plants have given rise to so many fixed varieties or races 

 as the cabbage. Almost every part of its structure, except the 

 root and seeds, has been modified by man for his own use. 



The seeds of all the varieties are so similar that they cannot 

 be distinguished from each other with certainty (p. 636). The 

 young seedlings also present great similarity, and have two 

 notched cotyledons, similar to those of the turnip in Fig. 117 ; 

 the first foliage-leaves are quite smooth and of glaucous tint. 



In all the forms of cultivated cabbage the inflorescence, 

 flowers, fruit, and seeds are similar to those of the wild cabbage 

 mentioned above ; it is in the growth of the vegetative parts 

 and the young inflorescences that the most striking variations 

 are seen. 



All the cultivated forms are biennial and fall into several groups, 

 namely : — 



i. Brassica okracea L., form acephala. 



The terminal and axillary buds of the varieties in this group 

 grow out into leafy shoots in the first season, and therefore give 

 rise to an elongated stem and branches bearing a considerable 

 number of green foliage-leaves for which these plants are grown. 

 These varieties most nearly resemble the wild cabbage : repre- 

 sentatives are borecole, Scotch kail, and Thousand-headed kail. 



ii. Brassica okracea L., form gemmifera. 



This form resembles the preceding one in possessing an erect 

 elongated stem, but the axillary buds upon it, instead of 

 branching out immediately, become more or less compact and 

 round. The plant is grown for these buds, which are usually 

 about I or 2 inches in diameter. The chief representative 

 is the Brussels Sprout. 



