BRA'SSICA, a genus of Cruciferous plants, comprehending among other species the Cabbage, Cauliflower, Broccoli, Borecole, Rape, Tur nip, Colza, and the like. It is distinguished from other Cruciferous genera by the following characters :—Its seeds contain an embryo, the radicle of which is embraced in the concavity of the folded cotyledons. Its pod is long, slender, and many-seeded. The seeds are spherical.
The calyx is equal at the base, and slightly spreading ; the petals are undivided ; the stamens entire.
B. oleracea, the Wild Cabbage, is met with in abundance upon the cliffs of many parts of Europe ; commonly in the south part of European Turkey (especially about Mount Athos), on the coast of Kent near Dover, and on that of the Isle of Wight, Cornwall, Wales, and Yorkshire. In other places it forms a broad-leaved glaucous plant, with a somewhat woody stem, having but slender likeness to its cultivated progeny ; and it is difficult to conceive by what original discovery the species was brought under the influence of domestication so as to have been pre pared for the numerous changes and improvements it had to undergo before the races of Cabbages, Savoys, Borecoles, Cauliflowers, and Broccolis could have been produced.
B. campestris, the Wild Navew or Turnip, has its leaves lyrate, dentate, somewhat hispid ; upper leaves ovate, acuminate, deeply cordate, amplexicaul, glabrous. It grows by the aides of rivers, by
ditches, in marshes, and the borders of fields in many parts of England. It is believed to have been the nryyeals of Theophrastus. This is looked upon as the original of the Swedish Turnip, whilst a variety, regarded by some botanists as a species, with a caulescent fleshy root, called B. Rape, is supposed to be the origin of the Common Turnip.
B. Napes, the Rape, Colza, or Coleseed, has the lower leaves lyrate, dentate, glabrous ; upper leaves oblong, somewhat narrowed below, with a dilated cordate semi-amplexicaul base. It is difficult to find any character by which to distinguish this plant from the preceding. In fact some botanists regard B. Napes as nothing more than a variety of B. campestris.
B. monensia has the leaves stalked, all deeply pinnatifid • the lobes oblong, unequally toothed, those of the upper leaves linear. The stem of this plant is prostrate, and the flowers yellow. It is found on the western, coasts of Great Britain.
BRASSICA'CEzE, the name given by Dr. Lindley to the natural order Cruciferce. [CaumEn.r..]