It will be well to remember, however, that the turnip, the parsnip, the beetroot, and all kinds of “radishes,” are large rooted, or rather monstrous-rooted varieties of wild plants, all of which are common in the British islands; and it may also be stated, that the tubers of the cultivated potatoe are monstrous variations from the type of the original tuber of the American plant.
Among those plants whose monstrosities of leaf-growth have been rendered subservient to the ordinary purposes of life, none exhibit such striking examples as the Brassica oleracea, or common rock-cabbage. The etymology of the word Brassica has been explained with elaborate ingenuity by Vossins and others, but the true origin of the word need not be sought further than the Celtic word bresic, which actually signifies a cabbage. To any one who had gathered specimens of the wild cabbage on the cliffs of Dover, and observed its straggling growth, and its ragged stem of sparse yellow flowers, without knowing its horticultural history, the assertion that the great white sugar-loaf cabbage of our gardens, the red cabbage, the curly Savoy cabbage, and the hundred-headed variety known as Brussels sprouts, were all nothing more than different monstrosities of growth of that little wild plant of the cliffs, would naturally appear unworthy of belief; and yet to botanists it is a well-known fact. The exuberance of growth which induces so rapid a development of leaves, that the external set have not time to expand themselves, so as to allow of their successors to develope themselves in due order, produces what is called the heart, the whiteness of which is caused by the exclusion of light by the outer layer of foliage, while the compactness is caused by the continuous formation of inner leaves, which sometimes becomes so rapid, if any extra stimulation takes place, in consequence of abundant rain, or some other cause, that the external leaves, which cannot expand with sufficient rapidity to give room to the inner growth, are violently burst, and the individual cabbage is spoilt as a kitchen vegetable. The curly leaves of the Savoy cabbage, as it is termed, the numerous miniature “hearts” forming themselves at every joint, as in Brussels sprouts, as they are termed, and the still more curious variety of cabbage which has the foliage of a deep purple, are all monstrosities of the straggling rock plant, the wild Brassica oleracea.
The same Brassica oleracea affords us the most striking varieties of floral monstrosity. The vast profusion of blossom which occurs in a monstrous variation of the usual flower-growth, produces, in the bud state, a sponge-like[1] mass, which forms one of the most delicious of our culinary vegetables, distinguished by the names of broccoli, or cauliflower.[2] Of all the Brassica tribe, including cauliflowers and broccoli, it may be said that they only flourish luxuriantly in a temperate climate. The cauliflower, however, succeeds well in the south of France and in Italy, in the cold months of the year, especially if supplied abundantly with water. In the colder region of Tarragona, in Spain, the cauliflower treated in this manner attains, occasionally, an enormous size, single heads weighing commonly from thirty to forty pounds.
Of useful monstrosities in seed-vessels, one may cite the fleshy shells of the so-called French-bean, and the Scarlet-runner. The seed-vessels of these plants in their wild state are thin, stringy, and tough in comparison with the garden varieties which have been produced by watching for unusual development of the seed-vessels, and selecting the seed from the most fleshy. This process, carried on for many years, is sure to result in the production of varieties, the seed-vessels of which would be of the desired thickness and tenderness of fibre. From established garden varieties produced in this way, our nurserymen are each season producing new sub-varieties, to which the most tempting names are given, such as the “Tender-green-marrow,” the “soft-butter-pod,” or the “Royal Osborne House green-fat.” The botanical name of the genus is Phaseolus, from phaselus, a little boat, the form of which the pods are supposed to resemble. Phaseolus multiflorus, the scarlet-runner, is not a British plant, but was introduced from South America, about 1663. The dwarf, or French-bean, is a garden variety of the climbing species. There is a singular monstrosity in one of the pea tribe, the shell of which ranks as a good culinary vegetable. The inner film being absent in the pod of the sugar-pea, it is boiled entire with the pod, and eaten in the same way as kidney beans.
Of monstrosities in seed, used as a green vegetable, the common green-pea will serve as an example. The original plant, from which so many hundreds of varieties have been obtained by careful culture, is supposed to be the wild pea bearing the botanical name of Pisum sativum. Like many domestic plants which were very early cultivated by the ancients, its native country is not known; but botanists appear inclined to place its original home in the south of Europe. From the length of time, however, which the plant has been in cultivation, it is difficult to state precisely which plant of the wild-pea tribe is the true parent; but it is certain that in its wild state the seeds were small and hard in comparison to the fine garden varieties known as “marrow-fats,” &c.; the seeds in that exaggerated form being no other than “cultivated monstrosities.”
In the curtailed space of the present paper I have not space to trace the apple, the apricot, the peach, &c., to their worthless wild forms, nor to trace back the large kernelled Kentish filbert to the wretched wild hazel nut; but must at once come to monstrosities in ripened seed, especially the monstrous variety of a grass seed which we now only know as the corn which furnishes our daily bread—the common wheat of our harvest fields.
All the varieties of wheat have been recently traced to a wild grass of the genus Ægilops, which- ↑ That is to say sponge-like, in external appearance.
- ↑ Cauliflower is said to be so called from its resemblance to a bald head within the great leaves with which it is surrounded. If the term be derived from the Italian calvo, and the Latin calvus, bald, we might Anglicise the name, as the Baldflower or Baldhead flower.
