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Brassica oleracea - Wild Cabbage

Phylum: Magnoliophyta - Class: Equisetopsida - Order: Brassicales - Family: Brassicaceae

Wild Cabbage on Great Orme, Llandudno, Wales

Sea cliffs are the natural habitat of wild brassicas. Wild Cabbage is the origin of the many kinds of cabbages, cauliflowers and broccoli that we cultivate today.

Flowering times

The first flowers of Wild Cabbage appear at the end of March. Blooming usually continues into August.

Wild Cabbage, Great Orme, Wales

Changing the family name of this family of plants from Cruciferae to Brassicaceae (Cabbage plants) has done nothing for a group that already gets a bad press (Oilseed Rape, which causes allergic reactions in even normally healthy individuals is an example) and so it is good to remember that some of our most loved garden plants and wildflowers are also cabbages - Aubretia deltoidea, for instance. This lovely plant is not only a must for country gardens, but it is also a delightful wildflower that grows in parts of the Mediterranean region.

Flowers oif Wild Cabbage

The flowers of Wild Cabbage are yellow and each has four petals, while the leaves often have purple veins. Sometimes, as seen in the example below, the whols surface of the leaves can turn purple from their tips.

Purple leaf veins, Wild Cabbage

Etymology

The genus name Brassica is the classical Latin word for a cabbage, while the specific epithet oleracea comes from the Latin oleraceus and means vegetable or herbal.

The common name cabbage is thought to have come from the French word caboche, which is a colloquial term for head.

Similar Species

Related species such as black mustard, rape and wild turnip are all very similar in appearance, having four yellow flower petals and leaves with a bluish tinge. they too are commonly found near the coast.

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