Brassica oleracea, also known as wild cabbage in its uncultivated form, is a plant of the family Brassicaceae.
The species originated from feral populations of related plants in the Eastern Mediterranean, where it was most likely first cultivated. It has many common cultivars that are used as culinary vegetables, including cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, romanesco, kale, Brussels sprout, collard, Savoy cabbage, kohlrabi, and gai lan.
Description
Wild Brassica oleracea is a tall biennial or perennial plant that forms a stout rosette of large leaves in its first year. The grayish-green leaves are fleshy and thick, helping the plant store water and nutrients in difficult environments. In its second year, a woody spike grows up to 1.5 metres (5 ft) tall, from which branch off stems with long clusters of four-petaled yellow flowers.
Taxonomy
A large wild cabbage (B. oleracea var. oleracea) plant that grew near the sea at Mill Bay in East Portlemouth, Devon, England
According to the triangle of U theory, B. oleracea is very closely related to five other species of the genus Brassica. A 2021 study suggests that Brassica cretica, native to the Eastern Mediterranean, particularly Greece and the Aegean Islands, was the closest living relative of cultivated B. oleracea, thus supporting the view that its cultivation originated in the Eastern Mediterranean region, with later admixture from other Brassica species. Genetic analysis of nine wild populations on the French Atlantic coast indicated their common feral origin, deriving from domesticated plants escaped from fields and gardens.
The cultivars of B. oleracea are grouped by developmental form into several major cultivar groups, of which the Acephala ("non-heading") group remains most like the natural wild cabbage in appearance.
"Brassica" was Pliny the Elder's name for several cabbage-like plants.
Its specific epithet oleracea means 'vegetable/herbal' in Latin and is a form of holeraceus...
