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''Brassica oleracea'' is the species of plant that includes many common foods as cultivars, including cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, kale, Brussels sprouts, collard greens, savoy, kohlrabi and kai-lan. In its uncultivated form, it is known as wild cabbage. It is native to coastal southern and western Europe. Its high tolerance of salt and lime and its intolerance of competition from other plants typically restrict its natural occurrence to limestone sea cliffs, like the chalk cliffs on both sides of the English Channel, 〔Snogerup, S., Gustafsson, M., & Von Bothmer, R. (1990). Brassica sect. Brassica (Brassicaceae) I. Taxonomy and variation. Willdenowia, 271-365.〕and the windswept coast on the western side of the Isle of Wight. Wild ''B. oleracea'' is a tall biennial plant, forming a stout rosette of large leaves in the first year, the leaves being fleshier and thicker than those of other species of ''Brassica'', adaptations to store water and nutrients in its difficult growing environment. In its second year, the stored nutrients are used to produce a flower spike tall bearing numerous yellow flowers. == Cultivation and uses == ''B. oleracea'' has become established as an important human food crop plant, used because of its large food reserves, which are stored over the winter in its leaves. It is rich in essential nutrients including vitamin C. A diet rich in cruciferous vegetables (e.g., cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower) is linked to a reduced risk of several human cancers.〔Verhoeven DT, Goldbohm RA, van Poppel G, Verhagen H, van den Brandt PA (1996)Epidemiological studies on brassica vegetables and cancer risk.Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev5(9):733–748. Higdon JV, Delage B, Williams DE, Dashwood RH (2007) Cruciferous vegetables and human cancer risk: Epidemiologic evidence and mechanistic basis. Pharmacol Res 55(3):224–236.〕 Although it is believed to have been cultivated for several thousand years, its history as a domesticated plant is not clear before Greek and Roman times, when it was a well-established garden vegetable. Theophrastus mentions three kinds of ''rhaphanos'' (ῤάφανος):〔Compare Theophrastus; ''raphanis'' (ραφανίς), "radish", also a Brassica.〕 a curly-leaved, a smooth-leaved, and a wild-type.〔Daniel Zohary and Maria Hopf, ''Domestication of plants in the Old World'', third edition (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000), p. 199.〕 He reports the antipathy of the cabbage and the grape vine, for the ancients believed cabbages grown near grapes would impart their flavour to the wine.〔Theophrastus, ''Enquiry into Plants'', IV.6.16; ''Deipnosophistae'', I, noting the effects of cabbages on wine and wine-drinkers, also quotes Apollodorus of Carystus: "If they think that our calling it a ''rhaphanos'', while you foreigners call it a krambê'', makes any difference to us women!" ((on-line English text )).〕 It has been bred into a wide range of cultivars, including cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, and more, some of which are hardly recognisable as being members of the same genus, let alone species. The historical genus of Crucifera, meaning four-petalled flower, may be the only unifying feature beyond taste. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Brassica oleracea」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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