See also cabbage

Brassica oleracea or Wild Cabbage, is a species of Brassica native to coastal southern and western Europe, where its resistance to salt and lime but intolerance of competition from other plants typically restricts is natural occurrence to limestone sea cliffs.

It is a tall biennial plant, forming a stout rosette of large leaves in the first year, the leaves being fleshier and thicker than those of other Brassica species, adaptations to store water and nutrients in a difficult growing environment. In its second year, the stored nutrients are used to produce a flower spike 1-2 m tall bearing numerous yellow flowers.

Cultivation and uses

Brassica oleracea is one of the most important human food crop plants, and has been cultivated for several thousand years, used because of its large food reserves, rich in essential nutrients including vitamin C, stored over the winter in its leaves.

A radically varying range of cultivars, hardly recognizable as being members of a single species, have been developed; they are grouped by developmental form into seven major Cultivar Groups, of which the Acephala Group remains most like the natural Wild Cabbage in appearance:

• Brassica oleracea Acephala Group - Kale
• Brassica oleracea Alboglabra Group - Chinese broccoli
• Brassica oleracea Botrytis Group - Cauliflower
• Brassica oleracea Capitata Group - Cabbage
• Brassica oleracea Gemmifera Group - Brussels sprouts
• Brassica oleracea Gongylodes Group - Kohlrabi
• Brassica oleracea Italica Group - Broccoli