Butterflies heat up the field of solar research

The humble butterfly could hold the key to unlocking new techniques to make solar energy cheaper and more efficient, pioneering new research has shown.

Parasitoid larvae in caterpillars affect behaviour of moths

(PhysOrg.com) -- Parasitoid larvae that feed within caterpillars that eat cabbage plants influence the plant via the caterpillar, making the cabbage plant an unattractive prospect for moths looking for a spot to lay their ...

Unraveling the Chinese cabbage genome

Clues into the evolutionary diversification of brassicas have emerged from the draft Chinese cabbage genome sequence. Brassica crops include many agriculturally important vegetables, such as Chinese cabbage, pak choi, turnip, ...

Diversity of cabbage species explained

The cabbage family is well-represented in the vegetable section of the supermarket. The cauliflower, red cabbage and broccoli found there were all bred from the cabbage species Brassica oleraciea. Its sister species Brassica ...

A new natural blue for food coloring

A natural brilliant blue coloring has been discovered by an international team of researchers including chemists at the University of California, Davis. The new cyan blue, obtained from red cabbage, could be an alternative ...

Plants cry for help when an attack can be expected

Eggs of insect pests deposited on plants trigger the production of scents by plants that affect different plant community members probably helping the plant to get rid of the pest before it becomes harmful.

How Chinese cabbage and white cabbage became alike

White cabbage and Chinese cabbage have a lot in common: both have leaves that wrap tightly around each other to form a leafy head. Remarkably, however, these two crops originate from two different Brassica species used and ...

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Cabbage

Cabbage is a popular cultivar of the species Brassica oleracea Linne (Capitata Group) of the Family Brassicaceae (or Cruciferae) and is a leafy green vegetable. It is a herbaceous, biennial, dicotyledonous flowering plant distinguished by a short stem upon which is crowded a mass of leaves, usually green but in some varieties red or purplish, which while immature form a characteristic compact, globular cluster (cabbagehead).

The plant is also called head cabbage or heading cabbage, and in Scotland a bowkail, from its rounded shape. The Scots call its stalk a castock, and the British occasionally call its head a loaf. It is in the same genus as the turnip – Brassica rapa.

Cabbage leaves often have a delicate, powdery, waxy coating called bloom. The occasionally sharp or bitter taste of cabbage is due to glucosinolate(s). Cabbages are also a good source of riboflavin.

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