By M. De Candolle. 



LI 



Brassica pinnata, Chou plume, or Chou aigrette, (feathered 

 Cabbage), can only be looked upon as a sub-variety. The 

 fringed Cabbages vary considerably in colour ; some are 

 green, Brassica Jimbriata viridis, Chou vert f rise, some red, 

 Brassica Jimbriata purpurascens, Chou rouge /rise, and 

 some streaked with green and red, others with green and 

 white, and others again with green, red, and white, Brassica 

 jimbriata versicolor; each of these sub-varieties is to be found 

 springing from the same seed. This Cabbage, though excel- 

 lent food, is often cultivated for mere ornament, on account 

 of the diversities of its form and colour. It has also been 

 tried with success as an oleiferous plant, and though less 

 useful in that respect than the Colsa, it may be allowed an 

 honourable place in the culture of plants in general, if we 

 take into consideration the produce of its seeds and leaves 

 together. The fifth variety, which, like the preceding, is 

 sometimes, though not so frequently, admitted into ornamental 

 gardening, is the Brassica palmifolia, Chou palmier, (Palm- 

 leaved Cabbage),* known by its elongated leaves, having a 

 few incisures, and irregularly swelled out ; in this latter pro- 

 perty it bears some resemblance to the Milan Cabbage (Savoy), 

 but differs from it in its leaves, which never form into a head, 

 and in its stalk, which is long, like that of the Cavalier ; its 

 foliage is of a deep purplish green, and the leaves in some 

 individuals are nearly plain : so much so, that they might be 

 confounded with the true Cavalier ; an additional proof that 

 this variety belongs to that race. The Brassica tophosa, 

 figured by John Bauhin,^ appears to be a sub-variety which 



* This plant is not, I believe, cultivated in the English Gardens. Sec, 

 f John Bauhin, Hist. Plant. Vol ii. page 830, fig. .1, 



