Brassica fruticulosa

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Brassica fruticulosa
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Scientific classification Red Pencil Icon.png
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Brassicales
Family: Brassicaceae
Genus: Brassica
Species:B. fruticulosa
Binomial name
Brassica fruticulosa
Cirillo, 1792

Brassica fruticulosa, the Mediterranean cabbage or twiggy turnip, is a member of the agriculturally significant genus Brassica . It was described by Domenico Maria Leone Cirillo in 1792.

Agriculture Cultivation of plants and animals to provide useful products

Agriculture is the science and art of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people to live in cities. The history of agriculture began thousands of years ago. After gathering wild grains beginning at least 105,000 years ago, nascent farmers began to plant them around 11,500 years ago. Pigs, sheep and cattle were domesticated over 10,000 years ago. Plants were independently cultivated in at least 11 regions of the world. Industrial agriculture based on large-scale monoculture in the twentieth century came to dominate agricultural output, though about 2 billion people still depended on subsistence agriculture into the twenty-first.

<i>Brassica</i> genus of plants

Brassica is a genus of plants in the mustard family (Brassicaceae). The members of the genus are informally known as cruciferous vegetables, cabbages, or mustard plants. Crops from this genus are sometimes called cole crops—derived from the Latin caulis, denoting the stem or stalk of a plant.

Contents

Description

Brassica fruticulosa has a similar odour to cabbage and broccoli, when crushed. The plant's stem is smooth and erect, varies from grey to green in colour, and can reach a height of 50 centimetres. The upper and lower leaves are stemmed, with the lower leaves being lyre-shaped, lobed near the base, and bristly in parts. The lower leaves measure up to 15 centimetres. The plant produces 10 millimetre-long, pale yellow flowers with four petals each, on short stalks, with many branches forming at the end of a stem. It also bears a pea pod-shaped siliqua which has a lumpy appearance and measures 2-4 centimetres in length. The seeds, when mature, are brown and spherical in appearance.

Cabbage A leafy green, red (purple), or white (pale green) biennial plant grown as an annual vegetable crop for its dense-leaved heads

Cabbage or headed cabbage is a leafy green, red (purple), or white biennial plant grown as an annual vegetable crop for its dense-leaved heads. It is descended from the wild cabbage, B. oleracea var. oleracea, and belongs to the "cole crops", meaning it is closely related to broccoli and cauliflower ; Brussels sprouts ; and savoy cabbage. Brassica rapa is commonly named Chinese, celery or napa cabbage and has many of the same uses. Cabbage is high in nutritional value.

Broccoli edible green plant in the cabbage family

Broccoli is an edible green plant in the cabbage family whose large flowering head and stalk is eaten as a vegetable.

Lyre string instrument from Greek classical antiquity

The lyre is a string instrument known for its use in Greek classical antiquity and later periods. The lyre is similar in appearance to a small harp but with distinct differences. In organology, lyres are defined as "yoke lutes", being lutes in which the strings are attached to a yoke that lies in the same plane as the sound-table and consists of two arms and a cross-bar.

Distribution

Brassica fruticulosa is a wild cabbage which originated in southern Europe and North Africa. It has been introduced to Australia [1] and North America (including California, U.S.A. [2] ), where it has subsequently become naturalized in the wild.

Europe Continent in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere

Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west and the Mediterranean Sea to the south. It comprises the westernmost part of Eurasia.

North Africa Northernmost region of Africa

North Africa is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region, and it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of Morocco in the west, to Egypt's Suez Canal and the Red Sea in the east. Others have limited it to top North-Western countries like Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia, a region that was known by the French during colonial times as “Afrique du Nord” and is known by all Arabs as the Maghreb. The most commonly accepted definition includes Algeria, Sudan, Morocco, Tunisia, Libya and Egypt, the 6 countries that shape the top North of the African continent. Meanwhile, “North Africa”, particularly when used in the term North Africa and the Middle East, often refers only to the countries of the Maghreb and Libya. Egypt, being also part of the Middle East, is often considered separately, due to being both North African and Middle Eastern at the same time.

Australia Country in Oceania

Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and numerous smaller islands. It is the largest country in Oceania and the world's sixth-largest country by total area. The neighbouring countries are Papua New Guinea, Indonesia and East Timor to the north; the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu to the north-east; and New Zealand to the south-east. The population of 25 million is highly urbanised and heavily concentrated on the eastern seaboard. Australia's capital is Canberra, and its largest city is Sydney. The country's other major metropolitan areas are Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide.

Subspecies and hybrids

Brassica fruticulosa has been synthetically cross-bred with Brassica rapa . [4]

<i>Brassica rapa</i> species of plant

Brassica rapa is a plant consisting of various widely cultivated subspecies including the turnip ; napa cabbage, bomdong, bok choy, and cime di rapa ; and Brassica rapa subsp. oleifera, an oilseed which has many common names, including turnip rape, field mustard, bird rape, and keblock.

Related Research Articles

Brassicaceae family of plants

Brassicaceae or Cruciferae is a medium-sized and economically important family of flowering plants commonly known as the mustards, the crucifers, or the cabbage family. Most are herbaceous plants, some shrubs, with simple, although sometimes deeply incised, alternatingly set leaves without stipules or in leaf rosettes, with terminal inflorescences without bracts, containing flowers with four free sepals, four free alternating petals, two short and four longer free stamens, and a fruit with seeds in rows, divided by a thin wall.

Kohlrabi annual vegetable, and is a low, stout cultivar of cabbage

Kohlrabi, also called German turnip, is a biennial vegetable, a low, stout cultivar of wild cabbage. It is the same species as cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, kale, Brussels sprouts, collard greens, Savoy cabbage, and gai lan.

Turnip root vegetable

The turnip or white turnip is a root vegetable commonly grown in temperate climates worldwide for its white, fleshy taproot. The word turnip is a compound of tur- as in turned/rounded on a lathe and neep, derived from Latin napus, the word for the plant. Small, tender varieties are grown for human consumption, while larger varieties are grown as feed for livestock. In the north of England, Scotland, Ireland, Cornwall and eastern Canada (Newfoundland), turnip often refers to rutabaga, a larger, yellow root vegetable in the same genus (Brassica) also known as swede.

Rapini species of plant

Rapini, commonly marketed in the United States as broccoli raab or broccoli rabe, is a green cruciferous vegetable. The edible parts are the leaves, buds, and stems. The buds somewhat resemble broccoli, but do not form a large head. Rapini is known for its slightly bitter taste, and is particularly associated with Italian, Galician, and Portuguese cuisines. Within the Italian tradition, the plant is associated especially with southern Italian cuisines such as those of Naples, Campania, and Apulia.

Bok choy

Bok choy, pak choi or pok choi is a type of Chinese cabbage. Chinensis varieties do not form heads and have green leaf blades with lighter bulbous bottoms instead, forming a cluster reminiscent of mustard greens. Chinensis varieties are popular in southern China and Southeast Asia. Being winter-hardy, they are increasingly grown in Northern Europe. This group was originally classified as its own species under the name Brassica chinensis by Linnaeus. They are a member of the family of Brassicaceae or Cruciferae, also commonly known as the mustards, the crucifers, or the cabbage family.

Choy sum variety of plant

Choy sum is a leafy vegetable commonly used in Chinese cuisine. It is a member of the genus Brassica of the mustard family, Brassicaceae. Choy sum is a transliteration of the Cantonese name, which can be literally translated as "heart of the vegetable". It is also known as Chinese flowering cabbage.

<i>Brassica oleracea</i> species of plant

Brassica oleracea is a plant species that includes many common foods as cultivars, including cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, kale, Brussels sprouts, collard greens, savoy, kohlrabi, and gai lan.

<i>Brassica juncea</i> species of plant

Brassica juncea, commonly brown mustard, Chinese mustard, Indian mustard, leaf mustard, Oriental mustard and vegetable mustard, is a species of mustard plant. One subvariety is southern giant curled mustard, which resembles a headless cabbage such as kale, but with a distinct horseradish or mustard flavor. It is also known as green mustard cabbage.

Rosette (botany)

In botany, a rosette is a circular arrangement of leaves or of structures resembling leaves.

Tatsoi species of plant, Tatsoi

Tatsoi is an Asian variety of Brassica rapa grown for greens. This plant has become popular in North American cuisine as well, and is now grown throughout the world.

<i>Caulanthus</i> genus of plants

Caulanthus is a genus of plants in the mustard family. Plants of this genus may be known as jewelflowers. They are also often referred to as wild cabbage, although this common name usually refers to wild variants of Brassica oleraceae, the cabbage plant. Jewelflowers are native to the southwestern United States and northern Mexico, where they are often found in warm, arid regions. Many species have an enlarged, erect stem rising from a basal rosette of leaves. Flowers arise directly from the surface of the stem; many species have colorful, bell-shaped flowers. The best-known of the fourteen species is probably the desert candle.

<i>Sabal palmetto</i> species of plant

Sabal palmetto, also known as cabbage-palm, palmetto, cabbage palmetto, blue palmetto, Carolina palmetto, common palmetto, swamp cabbage and sabal palm, is one of 15 species of palmetto palm. It is native to the southernmost lowlands and coastal areas of the southern United States, as well as Cuba, the Turks and Caicos Islands, and the Bahamas.

Napa cabbage a type of Chinese cabbage

Napa or nappa cabbage is a type of Chinese cabbage originating near the Beijing region of China, and is widely used in East Asian cuisine. Since the 20th century, it has also become a widespread crop in Europe, the Americas and Australia. In much of the world, this is the vegetable referred to as "Chinese cabbage". In Australia it is referred to as "wombok".

<i>Crocidolomia pavonana</i> species of insect

Crocidolomia pavonana is a moth of the family Crambidae. Its caterpillar is a crop pest and is known as the croci or the cabbage cluster caterpillar. This moth is found in Africa and Asia, its range extending from South Africa through India to the Pacific Ocean, including Australia. The wingspan is about 25 mm (1 in). The larvae feed on Brassicaceae species and are considered an agricultural pest on cabbages. At first, they feed only on the undersides of the leaves. Later they feed on the rest of the leaves and the central shoot. The species was first described by Johan Christian Fabricius in 1794.

Brassica elongata, the elongated mustard or long-stalked rape, is a species of the mustard plant that is native to parts of Central Europe, Eastern Europe, the Balkan Peninsula, the Caucasus, Morocco and parts of Central Asia. Through plant invasion this species has become naturalized in many other parts of the world. Some of these naturalized regions include South Africa, North Western Europe, Australia and North America. Given the wide range of climate and ecological conditions of these regions, B. elongata has been able to disrupt the ecosystems of their native plant habitats and has been label as an invasive species in many of its naturalized zones. In North America, this species is often found as a roadside weed in the southwestern states, particularly in the state of Nevada. Studies allude that the Cruciferae might have migrated through the Bering land bridge from what is now Central Asia. Commonly known as the long-stalked rape or as langtraubiger Kohl in German, this species is a close cousin to Brassica napus (rapeseed) and a secondary genetic relative to B. oleracea (kale). As a close genetic species of the rapeseed, the long-stalked rape has one of the highest counts of accumulated polyunsaturated linoleic and linolenic acid. Both compounds are heavily used to manufacture vegetable oils. Brassica elongata has the propagative potential of turning into a horticultural product from what is currently a noxious weed.

<i>Psylliodes chrysocephala</i> species of insect

Psylliodes chrysocephala or Psylliodes chrysocephalus, commonly known as the cabbage-stem flea beetle, is a species of leaf beetle situated in the subfamily Galerucinae and the tribe Alticini.

References

  1. Brassica fruticulosa at Florabase - The Western Australian Flora.
  2. Brassica fruticulosa at www.calflora.org.
  3. "Brassica fruticulosa". Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN). Agricultural Research Service (ARS), United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Retrieved 12 January 2018.
  4. Production of an interspecific hybrid between Brassica fruticulosa and B. rapa A. Chandra, M. L. Gupta, S. S. Banga, and S. K. Banga, 2004.