On the Kohl-Rahi. 
501 
Botanical Desceiptiox. 
The Kohl-Rabi belongs to the natural order Cruciferae of 
Jussieu ; class Tetradynamia Siliquosa of Linnaeus ; Cistal 
Alliance, order Brassicaceae, of Lindley. Petals four, and placed 
opposite each other at right angles or cruciate (as in all the 
genera belonging to this tribe) ; cotyledons two, folded together, 
enwrapping the radicula or embryo roots ; siliqua or pod nearly 
cylindrical, with valves opening lengthwise, and having a linear 
dissepiment or internal partition ; seeds globular ; style small, 
short, and blunt ; calyx closed or pressing upon the base of the 
petals; root hardish and very sliglitly tapering; stem, tor. ards 
its upper extremity, swollen out into a large globular, pulpy 
mass,* in consistence and texture somewhat resembling a Swedish 
turnip, from and near the summit of which the leaves — which are 
smooth, of various shapes and shades of colour — proceed ; flowers 
in May and June ; biennial. Native of Germany (?) 
Stnonyms. 
Kohl-Rabi : the Brassica oleracea gongylodes of Linnaeus ; the 
B, caulo Rapa of Caspar Bauhin, the latter name being adopted 
by De CandoUe, and now generally used ; the Choii rave of the 
French ; the Cavolo rapa of the Italians ; and the Kohl-Rahi 
iiber der Erde of the Germans. Introduced into England by- 
Sir Thomas Tyrwhitt, under the latter designation, it has retained 
it in spite of the numerous attempts to substitute other names, — 
such as turnip-stemmed cabbage, cape cabbage, knol-kohl, bulb- 
stalked cabbage, red turnip-cabbage ; and even so late as 1851, 
we find it entered in the catalogue of Messrs. Thomas Gibbs 
and Co., as the " Hungarian turnip." It is also very often con- 
founded with the Turnip-Rooted Cabbage, f a name properly be- 
longing to a plant of quite a distinct species, viz., the Brassica 
Napo Brassica, in which class are comprised all the Swedish 
turnips. 
Varieties. 
Old Gerarde gives a drawing of the variety described by him, 
and we cannot resist the opportunity of transferring it to the 
* This, however, is challenged by some botanists, who consider that the bulb is 
formed by the enlargement of the foot-stalks of the leaves. A vertical section of 
the bulb will show that it is the stem which is enlarged and swollen ; the foot- 
stalks of the leaves being attached in the ordinary way to the epidermis, and 
having their origin in the vascular tissue of the bulb. 
t The Turnip-rooted Cabbage is grown to some extent on the Continent ; but 
is being gradually superseded by the Swedish turnip. Its properties are its 
hardiness : the roots growing under, or almost under, the surface of the ground, 
which enables it to resist the severest winters. Several varieties have been grown 
by us, but they differ little from the white, or, as it is emphatically termed, the 
Very Bad Swedish Turnip. 
