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Other Names
Life Form
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Family
Food - It is an important human food crop.
France, United Kingdom, Spain
It thrives on rocky coastlines, especially chalk cliffs.
The wild ancestor of cabbage, kale, and broccoli. Offers rich nutrition and diverse vegetables from a single species.
It grows as a biennial or perennial herb in most cases, but can rarely be an annual and reaches heights of 0.6-1.5 m.
Stems erect or decumbent, branched at or above middle, sometimes fleshy at base.
Lower leaves have long stalks (up to 30 cm) and come in various shapes (oval, oblong, lanceolate). Their edges may be smooth, wavy, or toothed. Some even have a large central lobe with smaller lobes on either side. Upper leaves tend to be smaller, stalkless or with short stalks, and clasp the stem at the base.
Flower blooms in clusters (racemes) that can be loose and open or form a dense head. These small flowers boast four creamy-yellow petals (c. 2 cm) atop slender stalks.
Slender pods (4-10 cm long) develop after flowering, containing rows of tiny seeds.
Flowering: March – June
Fruiting: April – July