Brassica oleracea, L.

4. B. oleracea L. , Sp. Pl. 667 (1753)

( B. sylvestris (L.) Miller ).

Glabrous biennial to perennial herb up to 300 cm; lower part of stems becoming woody and covered with leaf-scars. Basal leaves up to 40 cm, usually petiolate, lyrate-pinnatipartite, crenate; cauline leaves ovate-lanceolate or oblong, entire, sessile (petiolate in some cultivars). Inflorescence paniculate, 20- to 50(-300)- flowered, soon elongating. Petals 15-20 mm, yellow. Siliqua 50- 70(—100) x 2^4(—5) mm, linear-terete, with a short conical beak 4-8(-10) mm long, as wide as the valves at the base. Maritime cliffs. • West coasts o f Britain, France, N. Spain; Mediterranean and Adriatic coasts from N.E. Spain to N. Italy. Widely cultivated as a vegetable. *Br G a Hs It [Bu Cz Ge Ho Ju].

Many cultivars have been derived from this and related species. There is great diversity in the taxonomic treatment of them, some authors regarding the wild plants as forming a separate species, B. sylvestris (L.) Miller (vide M. Onno, Österr. Bot. Zeitschr. 82: 309-34 (1933)), while others regard the cultivars as subspecies and varieties of B. oleracea . Lizgunova (Bull. Appi. Bot. Pl.-Breed. (Leningrad) 32: 37-70 (1959)) recognizes five separate cultivated species with numerous subspecies. Some of the cultivars occur as escapes.