In biology, the BBCH-scale for leafy vegetables not forming heads describes the

phenological Phenology is the study of periodic events in biological life cycles and how these are influenced by seasonal and interannual variations in climate, as well as habitat factors (such as elevation). Examples include the date of emergence of leav ...

development of leafy vegetables not forming heads, such as

spinach Spinach (''Spinacia oleracea'') is a leafy green flowering plant native to central and western Asia. It is of the order Caryophyllales, family Amaranthaceae, subfamily Chenopodioideae. Its leaves are a common edible vegetable consumed eith ...

, loosehead

lettuce Lettuce (''Lactuca sativa'') is an annual plant of the family Asteraceae. It is most often grown as a leaf vegetable, but sometimes for its stem and seeds. Lettuce is most often used for salads, although it is also seen in other kinds of foo ...

, and

kale Kale (), or leaf cabbage, belongs to a group of cabbage (''Brassica oleracea'') cultivars grown for their edible leaves, although some are used as ornamentals. Kale plants have green or purple leaves, and the central leaves do not form a head ...

, using the

BBCH-scale The BBCH-scale is used to identify the phenological development stages of plants. BBCH-scales have been developed for a range of crop species where similar growth stages of each plant are given the same code. Phenological development stages of plan ...

. The phenological growth stages and BBCH-identification keys of leafy vegetables not forming heads are: 1. For lettuce varieties without head, spinach and species with rosette-type growth
2. For kale and species without rosette growth

References

* {{cite journal , last = Feller , first = C. , author2=H. Bleiholder , author3=L. Buhr , author4=H. Hack , author5=M. Hess , author6=R. Klose , author7=U. Meier , author8=R. Stauss , author9=T. van den Boom , author10=E. Weber , title = Phänologische Entwicklungsstadien von Gemüsepflanzen: I. Zwiebel-, Wurzel-, Knollen- und Blattgemüse. , journal = Nachrichtenbl. Deut. Pflanzenschutzd. , volume = 47 , pages = 193–206 , year = 1995

External links

A downloadable version of the BBCH Scales
BBCH-scale