History of Garden Vegetables. 805 
Corona solis parvo flore, tuberosa radice. Tourn., 1719, 489. 
Helianthus radice tuberosa esculenta, Hierusalem Artichoke. Clayton, 
739, ex Gronov. 
Helianthus foliis ovato cordatis triplinervus. Gronov. virg., 1762, 129. 
Helianthus tuberosus. Linn. sp.. 1763, 1277. 
Kale. Brassica oleracea acephala D C. 
The kales represent an extremely variable class of vegetable, and 
have been under cultivation from a most remote period. What the 
varieties of cabbage were that were known to the ancient Greeks it . 
seems impossible to determine in all cases, but we can hardly ques- 
tion but that some of them belonged to the kales. Many varieties 
were known to the Romans. Cato,! who lived about B. c. 201, 
describes the Brassice as: the levis, large, broad-leaved, large- 
stalked ; the crispa or apiacon ; the lenis, small-stalked, tender, but 
rather sharp-tasting. Pliny,? in the first century, describes the 
Cumana, with sessile leaf and open head; the aricenwm, not excelled 
in height, the leaves numerous and thick ; the Pompeianum, tall, 
the stalk thin at the base, thickening among the leaves; the Bru- 
tiani, with very large leaves, thin stalk, sharp savor; the Sabellica, 
admired for its curled leaves, whose thickness exceeds that of the 
stalk, of very sweet savor ; the Lacuturres, very large headed, 
innumerable leaves, the head round, the leaves fleshy; the Triti- 
anon, often a foot in diameter, and late in going to seed. - 
I have not sufficient knowledge to give a complete history of the 
kales. I can only review those races which I have had an oppor- 
: tunity of studying, and this I will make as short as possible, 
intending only to bring into form for further study. 
I. The form of kale known in France as the Chevalier seems to 
have been the longest* known, and we may surmise that its names 
of chou caulier and caulet have reference to the period when the 
word caulis, a stalk, had a generic meaning applying to the cabbage 
Tace in general, and we may hence surmise that this was the com- 
mon form in ancient times, in like manner as coles or coleworts in 
more modern times imply the cultivation of kales. This word 
coles or caulis is used in the generic sense, for illustration, by Cato, 
Ie Script. Rei Rust., 1787, vol. i., p. 75. 
ie ee Lib. xix., c. 41; Lib. xx., c. . 
- P. Decandolle. Mem. on the Brassice, 1821, 7. 
