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Brassica oleracea capitata

Common name:	Cabbage	Family:	Cruciferae
Author:	DC.	Botanical references:	200
Synonyms:
Known Hazards:	None known
Range:	A cultivated form of B. oleracea.
Habitat:	Not known in the wild.
Edibility Rating (1-5):	4	Medicinal Rating (1-5):	0

Other Possible Synonyms:	From various places across the web, may not be correct. See below.
	B. oleracea[B,DUTCH,E,G,H,HORTIPLEX,L,P] B. oleracea conica[H] B. oleracea var. acephala[B] B. oleracea var. capitata[B,G,H,L,P] B. oleracea var. conica[H]
Other Common Names:	From various places around the Web, may not be correct. See below.
	Berza [E], Broccoflower [H], Broccoli [H], Cabbage [H,E,P,B,L], Cauliflower [H], Chou [E], Col [E], Kan Lan [E], Kool [D], Lan Ts'Ai [E], Repollo [E], Weisskohl [E], Wild Cabbage [L,H],
Epithets:	From a Dictionary of Botanical Epithets
	capitata = with a head; oleracea = vegetable like;
Systematics:	From a USDA Plants Database
	Order: Capparales. Renamed to Brassicaceae -- Mustard family
Other Range Info:	From the Ethnobotany Database
	Australia; Chile; China; Dominican Republic; France; Germany; Haiti; India; Mexico; Spain; Us

Physical Characteristics

Biennial growing to 0.75m. It is not frost tender. It is in flower from May to August, and the seeds ripen from July to September. The flowers are hermaphrodite (have both male and female organs) and are pollinated by Bees. The plant is self-fertile. We rate it 4/5 for edibility and 0/5 for medicinal use.

The plant prefers light (sandy), medium (loamy) and heavy (clay) soils, requires well-drained soil and can grow in heavy clay soil. The plant prefers acid, neutral and basic (alkaline) soils and can grow in very acid and very alkaline soils. It can grow in semi-shade (light woodland) or no shade. It requires moist soil. The plant can tolerate maritime exposure.

Habitats and Possible Locations

Cultivated Beds.

Cultivar 'Tree Collards': Woodland, Cultivated Beds, Sunny Edge.

Edible Uses

Leaves; Seed.

Leaves - raw or cooked[1, 27, 46]. Cabbages are generally used as a cooked vegetable, though the shredded leaves can also be eaten in salads. Dutch cabbages are generally sweeter and milder in flavour making them more suitable for raw eating. Those leaves in the heart of the plants are more tender than outside leaves and so are also more suitable for eating raw. These heart leaves, though, are less nutritious because they have been excluded from the light[K]. Many people find that the raw leaves give them indigestion[K]. The leaves can be fermented and made into sauerkraut, used as a health food and said to be good for the digestive system[K]. By careful selection of cultivars, it is possible to harvest cabbages all year round[K].
Seeds - sprouted and added to salads. Very good eating[183].

Medicinal Uses

Disclaimer

None known

Other Uses

Dye.

A blue dye can be obtained from the leaves of purple cultivars[168].

Cultivation details

Succeeds in full sun in a well-drained fertile preferably alkaline soil[16, 37, 200]. Prefers a heavy soil and a cool moist climate[16, 27]. Succeeds in any reasonable soil. Succeeds in maritime gardens[200]. Tolerates a pH in the range 4.3 to 8.3.
The cabbage is widely cultivated throughout the world for its edible leaves There are three main types of cabbage, the common hearting cabbage has dark green leaves, Dutch cabbages form a much larger heart and the leaves, which have a milder flavour, are a pale green or even white, whilst the third type, red cabbages, has red leaves. There are many named varieties of each type and by careful choice of varieties it is possible to ensure a year round supply of fresh leaves. Several cultivars are hardy enough to stand the rigours of a British winter, there are also some less-hardy varieties that can be harvested in early winter and stored for a few months in a cool place to provide leaves in areas with very severe winters[200]. Some varieties have been selected for the ornamental value of their leaves, these tend to be of poor culinary quality[206].
Cabbages are good companions for dill, camomile, sage, wormwood, mint and other aromatic plants which help to reduce insect predations on the cabbages[18, 201]. Cabbages also grow well with potatoes and beet[201]. They grow badly with strawberries, tomatoes and climbing beans[18, 201].

Propagation

Seed - this can be sown from early spring to late summer in a seedbed outdoors, depending on the cultivar. The plants are moved to their final positions when about 7 - 15cm tall. Do not let the seedlings get overcrowded or they will soon become leggy and will not make such good plants. If your seedlings do get leggy, it is possible to plant them rather deeper into the soil - the buried stems will soon form roots and the plant will be better supported.
For a summer crop, the seed is sown in early to late spring, autumn maturing cultivars are sown in mid to late-spring and winter maturing cultivars in late spring. Winter to spring maturing cultivars are sown in mid to late summer, these are often sown in situ and thinned as required.
Seed of fast-growing summer cabbages can also be sown in a greenhouse in January/February in order to provide an early crop. This is planted out in early to mid-spring as the weather allows and can be harvested in late spring and early summer.

Cultivars

'': There are many named varieties of this annual vegetable, with new forms being developed each year. At present there is not time to enter these in the database and it is recommended that you consult the book 'The Fruit and Vegetable Finder' which is updated regularly and can be obtained from libraries.

Suppliers

For more details of plant suppliers please see our Suppliers Page which lists many more places to look.

Web References

[HP] Links, Photos, Suppliers from Hortiplex Plant Database

References for Brassica oleracea (a possible synonym).

[H] Details of Scandanavian and European Common names in Henriette's names database
[E] Ethnobotany Data (common names, uses, countries) from the Ethnobotany Database.
[V] Images from the Vascular Plant Image Gallery of the Texas A&M Bioinformatics Working Group.
[B] Data (Latin & Common names, other references) from the BONAP's Synonymized Checklist of the Vascular Flora of the United States, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.
[G] Data (Common Names, Uses, Distribution) from the USDA/ARS NPGS's GRIN taxonomic database.
[P] Data. (uses, distribution, wetland) from the USDA'a Plants database.
[HP] Links, Photos, Suppliers from Hortiplex Plant Database

References for Brassica oleracea var. capitata (a possible synonym).

[H] Details of Scandanavian and European Common names in Henriette's names database
[G] Data (Common Names, Uses, Distribution) from the USDA/ARS NPGS's GRIN taxonomic database.
[P] Data. (uses, distribution, wetland) from the USDA'a Plants database.

See the PFAF Links Pages for other sources.

Also try Photos and info from the The Plants Database which has 14,000 images.

References

[K] Ken Fern
Notes from observations, tasting etc at Plants For A Future and on field trips.

[1] F. Chittendon. RHS Dictionary of Plants plus Supplement. 1956 Oxford University Press 1951
Comprehensive listing of species and how to grow them. Somewhat outdated, it has been replaces in 1992 by a new dictionary (see [200]).

[16] Simons. New Vegetable Growers Handbook. Penguin 1977 ISBN 0-14-046-050-0
A good guide to growing vegetables in temperate areas, not entirely organic.

[18] Philbrick H. and Gregg R. B. Companion Plants. Watkins 1979
Details of beneficial and antagonistic relationships between neighbouring plants.

[27] Vilmorin. A. The Vegetable Garden. Ten Speed Press ISBN 0-89815-041-8
A reprint of a nineteenth century classic, giving details of vegetable varieties. Not really that informative though.

[37] Thompson. B. The Gardener's Assistant. Blackie and Son. 1878
Excellent general but extensive guide to gardening practices in the 19th century. A very good section on fruits and vegetables with many little known species.

[46] Uphof. J. C. Th. Dictionary of Economic Plants. Weinheim 1959
An excellent and very comprehensive guide but it only gives very short descriptions of the uses without any details of how to utilize the plants. Not for the casual reader.

[168] Grae. I. Nature's Colors - Dyes from Plants. MacMillan Publishing Co. New York. 1974 ISBN 0-02-544950-8
A very good and readable book on dyeing.

[183] Facciola. S. Cornucopia - A Source Book of Edible Plants. Kampong Publications 1990 ISBN 0-9628087-0-9
Excellent. Contains a very wide range of conventional and unconventional food plants (including tropical) and where they can be obtained (mainly N. American nurseries but also research institutes and a lot of other nurseries from around the world.

[200] Huxley. A. The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. 1992. MacMillan Press 1992 ISBN 0-333-47494-5
Excellent and very comprehensive, though it contains a number of silly mistakes. Readable yet also very detailed.

[201] Allardice.P. A - Z of Companion Planting. Cassell Publishers Ltd. 1993 ISBN 0-304-34324-2
A well produced and very readable book.

[206] Larkcom J. Oriental Vegetables John Murray 1991 ISBN 0-7195-4781-4
Well written and very informative.

Readers Comments

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Plant information taken from the Plants For A Future - Species Database. Copyright (c) 1997-2003.
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