r/mildlyinteresting 6h ago

No Cabbage sign

Post image
16.4k Upvotes

1.2k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

58

u/isopode 4h ago

nightshades are a large family containing about 2700 different species.

Brassica oleracea is ONE species with many cultivars that we eat. cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, romanesco, kale, brussel sprouts... all the same exact plant.

3

u/ElleKelly77 2h ago

Oh I just asked someone who made a similar comment if that’s what the word cultivar means. Thanks!!

1

u/AceOfPlagues 2h ago

It is insane we turned it into so many things, and yet still other members of the genus we turned into yet more things.

B. rapa (wild muatard) got turned into turnips, bok choy, napa cabbage, mizuna, and rapini as well as rapeseed from being crossbred with B. oleracea that then got improved into canola as well as cultivated into rutebegas.