Brassicas

Cabbage

The common cabbage is grown throughout the world today including lowland tropics.

Brassica nigra has been cultivated in Europe for a long time, but little is grown in the tropics. It is naturalised in North America and is now a widespread weed in cereal and other crops.Brassica juncea (brown mustard) is cultivated widely in India, Pakistan, China, southern Russia and Kazakhstan. Mustard is also grown on the plains area of the USA and Canada, Hungary and in the UK.

Brassica rapa (turnip) originated in middle and eastern Asia and through cultivation has now spread throughout the temperate zone and can be grown in the tropics. Brassica napus(swedes) are of European origin, but not much grown elsewhere.

Lepidium sativum (garden cress) came from western Asia and has been found in Europe since 17th century and now grown all over the world. It is possible that it spread to Europe as a weed in linseed fields.

Broccoli

The word broccoli comes from the Italian plural of broccolo, which means "the flowering crest of a cabbage"

Broccoli is often boiled or steamed but may be eaten raw.^[4]

Broccoli is classified in the Italica cultivar group of the species Brassica oleracea. Broccoli has large flower heads, usually green in color, although tthere is a purple sprouting cariety. arranged in a tree-like structure branching out from a thick, edible stalk. The mass of flower heads is surrounded by leaves. Broccoli is a variety of cauliflower.

Broccoli is a result of careful breeding of cultivated leafy cole crops in the northern Mediterranean starting in about the 6th century BC.^[5] Since the Roman Empire broccoli has been considered a uniquely valuable food among Italians.^[6] Broccoli was brought to England from Antwerp in the mid-18th century by Peter Scheemakers and first introduced to the United States by Italian immigrants, but did not become widely known there until the 1920s.

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