Photo by Kurt Kulac licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0
What do kale, broccoli, cauliflower, Brussel sprouts, and cabbage have in common? They are all different cultivars of the same species!
Wild cabbage (Brassica oleracea) is native to coastal parts of southern and western Europe. In its native habitat, wild cabbage is very tolerant of salty, limey soils but not so tolerant of competition. Because of this, it tends to grow mainly on limestone sea cliffs where few other plants can dig their roots in.
Despite their popularity as delicious, healthy vegetables, as well as their long history of cultivation, there is scant record of this plant before Greek and Roman times. Some feel that this is one of the oldest plants in cultivation. Along with the countless number of edible cultivars, the wild form of Brassica oleracea can be found growing throughout the world, no doubt thanks to its popularity among humans.
I am always amazed by how little we know about crop wild relatives. Despite the popularity of its many agricultural cultivars, relatively little attention has been paid to B. oleracea in the wild. What we do know is that at least two subspecies have been identified - B. oleracea ssp. bourgeaui and B. oleracea L. ssp. oleracea. As far as anyone can tell, subspecies 'oleracea' is the most wide spread in its distribution whereas subspecies 'bourgeaui' is only known from the Canary Islands.
© Copyright Evelyn Simak licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0
B. oleracea's long history with humans confuses matters quite a bit. Because it has been cultivated for thousands of years, identifying which populations represent wild individuals and which represent ancient introductions is exceedingly difficult. Such investigations are made all the more difficult by a lack of funding for the kind of research that would be needed to elucidate some of these mysteries. We know so little about wild B. oleracea that the IUCN considers is a species to be "data deficient."
It seems to appreciate cool, moist areas and will sometimes escape from cultivation if conditions are right, thus leading to the confusion mentioned above. It is amazing to look at this plant and ponder all the ways in which humans have selectively bred it into the myriad shapes, sizes, and flavors we know and love (or hate) today! However, we must pay more attention to the wild progenitors of our favorite crops. They harbor much needed genetic diversity as well as clues to how these plants are going to fare as our climates continue to change.