Acephala group

The acephala group refers to any type of Brassica which grows without the central 'head' typical of many varieties of cabbage. These are included within the species Brassica oleracea. The name literally means "without a head" in contrast to those varieties known as capitata or "with a head". This group includes a number of species, both wild and cultivated, many of which are grown for their edible leafs and flowers.

Groups of cultivars

Different sources break down the Brassica genus into different grouping as shown below:

Mabberley (q.v.) has these groups: Napobrassica Group / Pabularia Group / Acephala Group / Alboglabra Group / Botrytis Group / Capitata Group / Gemmifera Group / Gongylodes Group / Italica Group / Tronchuda Group / Chinensis Group / Japonica Group / Pekinensis Group / Perviridis Group / Rapifera Group

Royal Botanic Gardens Kew^[1] has eight groups: Acephala Group (kale, borecole, collards) / Alboglabra Group (Chinese kale, Chinese broccoli, gai laan, kai lan) / Botrytis Group (broccoli, cauliflower, broccoflower, calabrese) / Capitata Group (cabbage, savoy cabbage, red cabbage) / Gemmifera Group (sprouts, Brussels sprouts) / Gongylodes Group (kohlrabi, knol-kohl) / Italica Group (purple sprouting, sprouting broccoli) / Tronchuda Group (Portuguese cabbage, seakale cabbage)

The Acephala group of cultivars or variety for the species Brassica oleracea includes:^[2]

• kale, or borecole, or colewort^[3]
• curly kale
• American English collard greens, or collard
• U.K. English spring greens
• decorative kale,^[4] ornamental kale,^[5] flowering kale,^[6] flowering cabbage,^[7] or ornamental cabbage^[8]
• giant Jersey cabbage,^[9] long jack,^[9] walking-stick cabbage,^[10] cow cabbage,^[11] Jérriais lé grand chour à vaque [i.e., big cabbage for cows],^[12] Jérriais lé chour [i.e., cabbage],^[13] tree cabbage,^[14] or Jersey kale,^[15] or Brassica oleracea longata^[16] The long woody stems are used for walking-sticks and the foliage for cow-fodder.^[17]
• Scotch kale^[18]

The Acephala means "no head"^[19] as the plants have leaves with no central head; the opposite arrangement of white cabbage, or Savoy cabbage.

Each cultivar has a different genome owing to mutation,^[20] evolution, the ecological niche,^[21] and intentional plant-breeding by man.

Mabberley (1997, p. 120) has the Acephala group in three sub-groups: kale, borecole, and collards.^[22]

References

1. RBG Kew web site > Science & Conservation > Plants and fungi. http://www.kew.org/science-conservation/plants-fungi/brassica-oleracea-wild-cabbage
2. RHS Plant Finder. Web. https://www.rhs.org.uk Accessed: 2014-11-25.
3. (Quote.) "Originally, a general name for any plant of the cabbage kind, genus Brassica (of which the varieties were formerly less distinct than now)." ("colewort, n." OED Online. Oxford University Press, September 2014. Web. 26 November 2014.)
4. Henry Homeyer: the Gardening Guy http://www.gardening-guy.com/tag/decorative-kale/
5. Walter Reeves,com The Georgia Gardener http://www.walterreeves.com/landscaping/ornamental-kaleornamental-cabbage/
6. Better Homes & Gardens http://www.bhg.com/gardening/plant-dictionary/annual/flowering-kale/
7. Garden Guides.com http://www.gardenguides.com/70082-flowering-cabbage-plants.html
8. Gardeners' World.com http://www.gardenersworld.com/blogs/plants/the-ornamental-cabbage/2897.html
9. BBC History Domesday http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/domesday/dblock/CI-554000-5452000/page/7 This page misspells "oleracea".
10. Thompson & Morgan http://www.thompson-morgan.com/vegetables/vegetable-seeds/brassica-and-leafy-green-seeds/kale-walking-stick/779TM
11. Jersey Evening Post. (2004) "Giant cabbage" http://jerseyeveningpost.com/island-life/history-heritage/giant-cabbage/. Online.
12. Andrew, A.J. (2014) SFPages : Home Guide : How to grow giant walking stick cabbages. http://homeguides.sfgate.com/grow-giant-walking-stick-cabbage-76144.html. Online. Accessed: 2014-11-26 For spelling of "chour", and "vaque" cf. Dictionnaithe Jerriais-Angliais: Jerriais-English dictionary. Jersey : Société Jersiaise 2005.
13. FREELANG Jérriais to English dictionary http://www.freelang.net/online/jerriais.php?lg=gb
14. The Cottage Smallholder http://www.cottagesmallholder.com/perennial-vegetables-tree-cabbage-7321/
15. Chiltern Seeds http://www.chilternseeds.co.uk/item_1360c_jersey_kale_or_walking_stick_cabbage_seeds
16. Torpey, Jodi (2014) Walking stick kale really works. In "Vegetable Gardener" http://www.vegetablegardener.com/item/12690/walking-stick-kale-really-works
17. Mabberley, D. (1997) Mabberley's plant-book : A portable dictionary of plants, their classification and uses. 3rd ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
18. Oxford Dictionaries : Language matters http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/Scotch-kale
19. Merriam-Webster http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/acephala
20. https://www.bio.cmu.edu/. Courses: "Genome evolution and mutation". Web. Accessed: 2014-11-25.
21. "Coupling Genetic and Ecological-Niche Models to Examine How Past Population Distributions Contribute to Divergence". Current Biology 17: 940–946. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2007.04.033.
22. Mabberley, q.v.