Wild Cabbage
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''Brassica oleracea'', also known as wild cabbage in its uncultivated form, is a plant of the family
Brassicaceae Brassicaceae () or (the older but equally valid) Cruciferae () is a medium-sized and economically important Family (biology), family of flowering plants commonly known as the mustards, the crucifers, or the cabbage family. Most are herbaceous pla ...
. The species originated from
feral A feral (; ) animal or plant is one that lives in the wild but is descended from domesticated individuals. As with an introduced species, the introduction of feral animals or plants to non-native regions may disrupt ecosystems and has, in som ...
populations of related plants in the
Eastern Mediterranean The Eastern Mediterranean is a loosely delimited region comprising the easternmost portion of the Mediterranean Sea, and well as the adjoining land—often defined as the countries around the Levantine Sea. It includes the southern half of Turkey ...
, where it was most likely first cultivated. It has many common
cultivar A cultivar is a kind of Horticulture, cultivated plant that people have selected for desired phenotypic trait, traits and which retains those traits when Plant propagation, propagated. Methods used to propagate cultivars include division, root a ...
s used as vegetables, including
cabbage Cabbage, comprising several cultivars of '' Brassica oleracea'', is a leafy green, red (purple), or white (pale green) biennial plant grown as an annual vegetable crop for its dense-leaved heads. It is descended from the wild cabbage ( ''B.& ...
,
broccoli Broccoli (''Brassica oleracea'' var. ''italica'') is an edible green plant in the Brassicaceae, cabbage family (family Brassicaceae, genus ''Brassica'') whose large Pseudanthium, flowering head, plant stem, stalk and small associated leafy gre ...
,
cauliflower Cauliflower is one of several vegetables cultivated from the species '' Brassica oleracea'' in the genus '' Brassica'', which is in the Brassicaceae (or mustard) family. Cauliflower usually grows with one main stem that carries a large, rou ...
,
kale Kale (), also called leaf cabbage, belongs to a group of cabbage (''Brassica oleracea'') cultivars primarily grown for their Leaf vegetable, edible leaves; it has also been used as an ornamental plant. Its multiple different cultivars vary quite ...
, Brussels sprout, collard, Savoy cabbage,
kohlrabi Kohlrabi (; pronounced in English; scientific name ''Brassica oleracea'' Gongylodes Group (horticulture), Group), also called German turnip or turnip cabbage, is a Biennial plant, biennial vegetable, a low, stout cultivar of wild cabbage. It is ...
, and gai lan.


Description

Wild ''B. oleracea'' is a tall biennial or
perennial In horticulture, the term perennial ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the year") is used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. It has thus been defined as a plant that lives more than 2 years. The term is also ...
plant that forms a stout rosette of large
leaves A leaf (: leaves) is a principal appendage of the stem of a vascular plant, usually borne laterally above ground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", while the leaves, stem, ...
in the 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 tall, from which branch off stems with long clusters of yellow four-petaled flowers.


Taxonomy


Origins

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 A feral (; ) animal or plant is one that lives in the wild but is descended from domesticated individuals. As with an introduced species, the introduction of feral animals or plants to non-native regions may disrupt ecosystems and has, in som ...
origin, deriving from domesticated plants escaped from fields and gardens. The cultivars of ''B. oleracea'' are grouped by developmental form into several major
cultivar group A Group (previously cultivar-groupInternational Code of Nomenclature for Cultivated Plants, 4th edition (1969), 5th edition (1980) and 6th edition (1995)) is a formal category in the '' International Code of Nomenclature for Cultivated Plants'' (' ...
s, of which the Acephala ("non-heading") group remains most like the natural wild cabbage in appearance.


Etymology

'Brassica' was
Pliny the Elder Gaius Plinius Secundus (AD 23/24 79), known in English as Pliny the Elder ( ), was a Roman Empire, Roman author, Natural history, naturalist, and naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and a friend of the Roman emperor, emperor Vesp ...
's name for several cabbage-like plants.Gledhill, David (2008). "The Names of Plants".
Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press was the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted a letters patent by King Henry VIII in 1534, it was the oldest university press in the world. Cambridge University Press merged with Cambridge Assessme ...
. (hardback), (paperback). pp 76
Its
specific epithet In Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin gramm ...
''oleracea'' means "vegetable/herbal" in
Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...
and is a form of ().


Distribution and habitat

Although rarely abundant, wild cabbage is found on the coasts of Britain, France, Spain, and Italy. Wild cabbage is a hardy plant with high tolerance for
salt In common usage, salt is a mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl). When used in food, especially in granulated form, it is more formally called table salt. In the form of a natural crystalline mineral, salt is also known as r ...
and lime. Its intolerance of competition from other plants typically restricts its natural occurrence to limestone sea cliffs, like the chalk cliffs on both sides of the
English Channel The English Channel, also known as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates Southern England from northern France. It links to the southern part of the North Sea by the Strait of Dover at its northeastern end. It is the busi ...
.


Cultivation

''B. oleracea'' has become established as an important human food
crop A crop is a plant that can be grown and harvested extensively for profit or subsistence. In other words, a crop is a plant or plant product that is grown for a specific purpose such as food, Fiber, fibre, or fuel. When plants of the same spe ...
plant, used because of its large food reserves, which are stored over the winter in its leaves. It has been bred into a wide range of
cultivar A cultivar is a kind of Horticulture, cultivated plant that people have selected for desired phenotypic trait, traits and which retains those traits when Plant propagation, propagated. Methods used to propagate cultivars include division, root a ...
s, including cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, brussels sprouts, collards, and kale, some of which are hardly recognizable as being members of the same genus, let alone species. The historical genus of Crucifera, meaning "cross-bearing" in reference to the four-petaled flowers, may be the only unifying feature beyond taste. ''B. oleracea'' is tolerant of a variety of soil conditions between pH 6.0 and 7.5, but grows particularly well in alkaline soils in full sunlight, with good drainage and high amounts of nitrogen. The plant can grow in partial shade, but care must be taken to provide sufficient ventilation, as this reduces the prevalence of
downy mildew Downy mildew refers to any of several types of oomycete microbes that are obligate parasites of plants. Downy mildews exclusively belong to the Peronosporaceae family. In commercial agriculture, they are a particular problem for growers of c ...
. Researchers believe that ''B. oleracea'' has been cultivated for several thousand years, but its history as a domesticated plant is not clear before Greek and Roman times, when it was a well-established garden vegetable.
Theophrastus Theophrastus (; ; c. 371 – c. 287 BC) was an ancient Greek Philosophy, philosopher and Natural history, naturalist. A native of Eresos in Lesbos, he was Aristotle's close colleague and successor as head of the Lyceum (classical), Lyceum, the ...
mentions three kinds of (ῤάφανος): a curly-leaved, a smooth-leaved, and a wild-type. He reports the antipathy of the cabbage and the grape vine, for the ancients believed cabbages grown near grapes would impart their flavour to the wine.


History

Through
artificial selection Selective breeding (also called artificial selection) is the process by which humans use animal breeding and plant breeding to selectively develop particular phenotypic traits (characteristics) by choosing which typically animal or plant ...
for various phenotype traits, the emergence of variations of the plant with drastic differences in appearance occurred over centuries. Preference for leaves, terminal buds, lateral buds, stems, and inflorescences resulted in selection of varieties of wild cabbage into the many forms known today. The wild plant (and its ancestors) originated in the eastern Mediterranean region of Europe. Estimated from
Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...
writings 4,000 years ago, as well as Greek writings from the sixth century BC, plant cultivation may have occurred.


Impact of preference

The preference for eating the leaves led to the selection of plants with larger leaves being harvested and their seeds planted for the next growth. Around the fifth century BC, the formation of what is now known as kale had developed. Preference led to further artificial selection of kale plants with more tightly bunched leaves or terminal buds. Around the first century AD, the phenotype variation of ''B. oleracea'' known as cabbage emerged. Phenotype selection preferences in Germany resulted in a new variation from the kale cultivar. By selecting for wider stems, the variant plant known as
kohlrabi Kohlrabi (; pronounced in English; scientific name ''Brassica oleracea'' Gongylodes Group (horticulture), Group), also called German turnip or turnip cabbage, is a Biennial plant, biennial vegetable, a low, stout cultivar of wild cabbage. It is ...
emerged around the first century AD. European preference emerged for eating immature buds, selecting for
inflorescence In botany, an inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a plant's Plant stem, stem that is composed of a main branch or a system of branches. An inflorescence is categorized on the basis of the arrangement of flowers on a mai ...
. Early records in 15th century AD, indicate that early
cauliflower Cauliflower is one of several vegetables cultivated from the species '' Brassica oleracea'' in the genus '' Brassica'', which is in the Brassicaceae (or mustard) family. Cauliflower usually grows with one main stem that carries a large, rou ...
and
broccoli Broccoli (''Brassica oleracea'' var. ''italica'') is an edible green plant in the Brassicaceae, cabbage family (family Brassicaceae, genus ''Brassica'') whose large Pseudanthium, flowering head, plant stem, stalk and small associated leafy gre ...
heading types were found throughout southern Italy and Sicily, although these types may not have been resolved into distinct cultivars until about 100 years later. Further selection in Belgium in lateral bud led to Brussels sprouts in the 18th century.


Cultivar groups

According to the Royal Botanic Gardens (Kew Species Profiles) Accessed March 23, 2023 – see "Descriptions" subsection "According to Kew Species Profiles" the species has eight
cultivar group A Group (previously cultivar-groupInternational Code of Nomenclature for Cultivated Plants, 4th edition (1969), 5th edition (1980) and 6th edition (1995)) is a formal category in the '' International Code of Nomenclature for Cultivated Plants'' (' ...
s. Each cultivar group has many
cultivar A cultivar is a kind of Horticulture, cultivated plant that people have selected for desired phenotypic trait, traits and which retains those traits when Plant propagation, propagated. Methods used to propagate cultivars include division, root a ...
s, like 'Lacinato' kale or 'Belstar' broccoli. * Acephala: non-heading cultivars (kale, collards, ornamental cabbage, ornamental kale, flowering kale, tree cabbage). * Alboglabra: Asian Cuisine cultivars (Chinese kale, Chinese broccoli, gai lan, kai lan). * Botrytis: cultivars that form compact inflorescences (broccoli, cauliflower, broccoflower, calabrese broccoli, romanesco broccoli). * Capitata: cabbage and cabbage-like cultivars (cabbage, savoy cabbage, red cabbage). * Gemmifera: bud-producing cultivars (sprouts, Brussels sprouts) * Gongylodes: turnip-like cultivars (kohlrabi, knol-kohl) * Italica: sprouts (purple sprouting broccoli, sprouting broccoli). Edible inflorescences not compacted into a single head. * Tronchuda: low-growing annuals with spreading leaves (Portuguese cabbage, seakale cabbage (distinct from sea kale)). A 2024 study compares 704 ''B. oleracea'' sequences and establishes a
phylogenetic tree A phylogenetic tree or phylogeny is a graphical representation which shows the evolutionary history between a set of species or taxa during a specific time.Felsenstein J. (2004). ''Inferring Phylogenies'' Sinauer Associates: Sunderland, MA. In ...
of cultivars. The authors find large-scale changes in gene expression and gene presence. Some genes are considered to be linked to certain traits such as arrested inflorescence (typical of cauliflower and broccoli).


Uses


Human genetics in relation to taste

The TAS2R38 gene encodes a G protein-coupled receptor that functions as a taste receptor, mediated by ligands such as propylthiouracil (PTU) and phenylthiocarbamide that bind to the receptor and initiate signaling that confers various degrees of taste perception. Vegetables in the brassica family, such as collard greens, kale, broccoli, cabbage, and Brussels sprouts, contain glucosinolates and
isothiocyanate In organic chemistry, isothiocyanate is a functional group as found in compounds with the formula . Isothiocyanates are the more common isomers of thiocyanates, which have the formula . Occurrence Many isothiocyanates from plants are produce ...
s, which resemble PTU, and therefore much of the perceived "bitterness" of these vegetables is mediated through TAS2R38. Bitter taste receptors in the TS2R family are also found in gut mucosal and pancreatic cells in humans and rodents. These receptors influence release of hormones involved in appetite regulation, such as peptide YY and glucagon-like peptide-1, and therefore may influence caloric intake and the development of obesity. Thus, bitter taste perception may affect dietary behaviors by influencing both taste preferences and metabolic hormonal regulation. Text was copied fro
the preprint version
which is available under
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
Three variants in the TAS2R38 gene – rs713598, rs1726866, and rs10246939 – are in high linkage disequilibrium in most populations and result in amino acid coding changes that lead to a range of bitter taste perception phenotypes. The PAV
haplotype A haplotype (haploid genotype) is a group of alleles in an organism that are inherited together from a single parent. Many organisms contain genetic material (DNA) which is inherited from two parents. Normally these organisms have their DNA orga ...
is dominant; therefore, individuals with at least one copy of the PAV allele perceive molecules in vegetables that resemble PTU as tasting bitter, and consequently may develop an aversion to bitter vegetables. In contrast, individuals with two AVI haplotypes are bitter non-tasters. PAV and AVI haplotypes are the most common, though other haplotypes exist that confer intermediate bitter taste sensitivity (AAI, AAV, AVV, and PVI). This taste aversion may apply to vegetables in general.


Notes


References


Further reading

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *


External links


PROTAbase on ''Brassica oleracea (Brussels sprouts)''
* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20090227055031/http://untamedscience.com/biodiversity/plants/flowering-plants/dicotyledons/brassicales/mustards/brassica/wild-cabbage Video Overview of ''Brassica oleracea'' from Untamed Science {{Authority control oleracea Plants described in 1753 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus Flora of Europe