Flora of North America species comparison

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Brassica

Brassica oleracea

cabbage, cole, mustard, turnip

broccoli, brussel sprouts, cabbage, cultivated cabbage, kale, wild cabbage
Habit Annuals, biennials, or, rarely, perennials; not scapose; glabrous, glabrescent, or pubescent. Biennials or perennials; (with slender taproot or woody caudex, becoming suffrutescent and covered with conspicuous leaf scars); (glaucous), glabrous.
Stems

erect, unbranched or branched distally.

branched distally, 5–10 dm.
Leaves

basal and cauline;

petiolate or sessile;

basal (persistent in B. tournefortii), rosulate or not, petiolate, blade margins entire, dentate, or lyrate-pinnatifid;

cauline petiolate or sessile, blade (base sometimes auriculate or amplexicaul), margins entire, dentate, lobed, or sinuate-serrate.

Basal leaves

petiole to 30 cm;

blade oblong or obovate, to 45 cm × 150 mm, (fleshy), blades pinnatifid or margins dentate.
Cauline leaves

(distal) sessile;

blade (oblong to lanceolate), base auriculate and amplexicaul, (margins entire).
Racemes

(corymbose), considerably elongated in fruit.

not paniculately branched.
Flowers

sepals usually erect or ascending, rarely spreading, oblong [ovate], lateral pair usually saccate basally;

petals yellow to orange-yellow [rarely white], obovate, ovate, elliptic, or oblanceolate, claw often differentiated from blade, (sometimes attenuate basally, apex rounded or emarginate);

stamens tetradynamous;

filaments slender;

anthers oblong or ovate, (apex obtuse);

nectar glands confluent or not, median glands present.

sepals 8–15 × 1.5–2.7 mm;

petals yellow, white, or lemon yellow, ovate or elliptic, (15–)18–25(–30) × (6–)8–12 mm, claw 7–15 mm, apex rounded;

filaments 8–12 mm;

anthers 2.5–4 mm.
Fruiting pedicels

erect, spreading, ascending or divaricately-ascending, often slender.

spreading to ascending, (8–)14–25(–40) mm.
Fruits

siliques, dehiscent, sessile or stipitate, segments 2, linear, torulose or smooth, terete, 4-angled, or latiseptate; (terminal segment seedless or 1–3-seeded, usually filiform or conic, rarely cylindrical);

valves each prominently 1-veined, glabrous;

replum rounded;

septum complete;

ovules [4–]10–50 per ovary;

stigma entire or 2-lobed.

spreading to ascending, smooth, ± 4-angled or subterete, (2.5–)5–8(–10) cm × (2.5–)3–4(–5) mm;

valvular segment with 10–20 seeds per locule, (2–)3–7.5(–9) cm, terminal segment usually seedless, rarely 1 or 2-seeded, (conic), (3–)4–10 mm.
Seeds

uniseriate, plump, not winged, globose;

seed coat (reticulate or reticulate-alveolate), mucilaginous or not when wetted;

cotyledons conduplicate.

brown, 1.7–2.5 mm diam.;

seed coat reticulate, not mucilaginous when wetted.
x

= 7, 8, 9, 10, 11.

2n

= 18.

Brassica

Brassica oleracea
Phenology Flowering May–Aug.
Habitat Maritime slopes or sea-facing cliffs, weedy escape, gardens, abandoned fields, waste places
Elevation 0-100 m (0-300 ft)
Distribution
from USDA
sw Europe; sw Asia; e Africa; nw Africa [Introduced in North America; introduced also in Mexico, West Indies, Central America, South America, Atlantic Islands, Pacific Islands (New Zealand), Australia]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
CA; CT; IA; IL; KY; MA; NY; OH; PA; RI; TX; VT; NL; ON; PE; QC; Europe; Asia; Africa [Introduced in North America; introduced also in Australia]
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Species 35 (8 in the flora).

Crops of Brassica are the most important economic plants of the family. Probably, the earliest known utilization of mustards dates from Sanskrit records in India to 3000 b.c., but there is archaeological evidence suggesting that cultivation of cabbage in coastal northern Europe was occurring nearly 8000 years ago. Brassica crops include oilseeds, food crops (e.g., B. juncea, Asian vegetables; B. oleracea, cole crops; B. rapa, Chinese cabbages), fodder for animals, and condiments (B. juncea or B. nigra). The latter two species have also been used for medicinal purposes (I. A. Al-Shehbaz 1985). In addition to being noxious weeds, some species of Brassica are harmful or poisonous to humans and livestock (Al-Shehbaz).

Historically, native peoples of North America have used a number of “wild” Brassica species for both food and medicinal purposes (T. Arnason et al. 1981; H. A. Jacobson et al. 1988): Brassica species—young shoots cooked as greens by Iroquois and Malecite Indian tribes; B. nigra—seeds ground and used as snuff to cure head colds by the Meskwaki, and leaves used to relieve toothaches and headaches by the Mohegans; B. napus—bark used to treat colds, cough, grippe, and smallpox by the Micmac, and used for chilblains by the Rappahannock; B. oleracea—used for headaches by the Rappahannock; and B. rapa—used as medicine by the Bois Fort Chippewa.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Brassica oleracea is widely cultivated worldwide as a vegetable crop, and its various forms are generally recognized as varieties instead of subspecies; these include var. acephala de Candolle (kale and collards), var. botrytis Linnaeus (cauliflower), var. capitata Linnaeus (cabbage), var. gemmifera Zenk (Brussels sprouts), var. gongylodes Linnaeus (kohlrabi), and var. italica Plenk (broccoli). It also occurs sporadically as a weedy escape from cultivation and seems unlikely to persist for long periods of time. It is reported to be naturalized on coastal cliffs (maritime slopes) in the northern Central Coastal Region and the central and southern North Coastal Region in California (Marin, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Barbara, and Ventura counties) (J. T. Howell et al. 1958; Howell 1970; H. G. Baker 1972; R. C. Rollins 1993b).

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Key
1. Cauline leaves sessile, blade bases auriculate and/or amplexicaul
→ 2
1. Cauline leaves petiolate or sessile, blade bases tapered, not auriculate or amplexicaul
→ 4
2. Biennials or perennials; petals (15-)18-25(-30) mm; terminal segments of fruits (3-)4-11 mm.
B. oleracea
2. Annuals or biennials; petals 6-16 mm; terminal segments of fruits (5-)8-22 mm
→ 3
3. Flowers usually not overtopping buds, rarely at same level, when open; petals pale yellow, 10-16 mm; terminal segments of fruits (5-)9-16 mm.
B. napus
3. Flowers overtopping or equaling buds when open; petals deep yellow, 6-11(-13) mm; terminal segments of fruits 8-22 mm.
B. rapa
4. Fruits and pedicels erect, ± appressed to rachises; fruits 10-25(-27) mm, not torulose; fruiting pedicels (2-)3-5(-6) mm.
B. nigra
4. Fruits and pedicels spreading to ascending, not appressed to rachises; fruits often 2 cm+, torulose; fruiting pedicels (6-)8-20 mm
→ 5
5. Fruits stipitate, gynophores 1.5-4(-5) mm, terminal segments 0.5-2.5(-3) mm; basal leaf blade margins entire or dentate.
B. elongata
5. Fruits sessile or stipitate, gynophores to 1 mm, terminal segments (4-)5-20 mm; basal leaf blade margins lyrate to pinnatisect, or pinnatifid to pinnately lobed
→ 6
6. Basal leaves persistent, blades with 4-10 lobes each side, surfaces hirsute; petals 4-7 × 1.5-2(-2.5) mm.
B. tournefortii
6. Basal leaves deciduous, blades with 1-3 (or 4) lobes each side, surfaces glabrous or nearly so; petals (7-)9-13 × 3-7.5 mm
→ 7
7. Fruits stipitate (gynophore 1-1.5 mm), 1.5-3 cm × 1.5-2 mm, terminal segment 3-6 mm.
B. fruticulosa
7. Fruits sessile, (2-)3-5(-6) cm × 2-5 mm, terminal segment (4-)5-10 (-15) mm.
B. juncea
Source FNA vol. 7, p. 419. Author: Suzanne I. Warwick. FNA vol. 7, p. 423.
Parent taxa Brassicaceae > tribe Brassiceae Brassicaceae > tribe Brassiceae > Brassica
Sibling taxa
B. elongata, B. fruticulosa, B. juncea, B. napus, B. nigra, B. rapa, B. tournefortii
Subordinate taxa
B. elongata, B. fruticulosa, B. juncea, B. napus, B. nigra, B. oleracea, B. rapa, B. tournefortii
Synonyms B. alboglabra
Name authority Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 2: 666. (1753): Gen. Pl. ed. 5, 299. (1754) Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 2: 667. (1753)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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