Cruciferous vegetables

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The cruciferous plants (Brassicaceae or Cruciferae), also called cruciferous plants, are a plant family in the order of cruciferous species (Brassicales). The family contains about 336 to 419 genera with about 3,000 to 4,130 species worldwide. It is of great economic importance for many crops.

Use
The cruciferous family includes many important crop plants. Thus, human-developed cultivated forms of cabbage (Brassica oleracea), such as white cabbage, red cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprout and Kohlrabi, are included. Black mustard (Brassica nigra), Indian mustard (Brassica juncea), pak choi, Chinese cabbage (Brassica rapa subsp. chinensis), white beet (Brassica rapa subsp. rapa), turnip (Brassica napus subsp. rapifera), turnip (Brassica rapa subsp. oleifera) and rapeseed (Brassica napus subsp. napus) also belong to the genus Brassica. Radishes and radishes are representatives of the genus Raphanus. Also known are white mustard (Sinapis alba), horseradish (Armoracia rusticana), also called krone, cress and wasabi (Eutrema japonicum). So some genera contain crop plants that are oil suppliers and spice plants or eaten as vegetables and salads.

Some species of this family are also grown as green and dried fodder. Some species are used for green fertilization.

The family also contains some known ornamental plants such as gold lacquer, blue pillow, night violet, levkojs and dyeing plants such as the dyer waid.

Description

Appearance and leaves
The species in this family mostly grow as one-, two-year-old and enduring herbaceous plants. Few species wood and grow as shrubs (Alyssum spinosum or the South African Heliophila glauca); Heliophila scandens forms lianas.

The foliage leaves, which are usually arranged alternately and spirally in a base leaf rosette or distributed on the stem, are undivided or assembled. Usually the leaves are hairy. The shape and density of the always single-celled hair (trichomes) are important determinants; they are unbranched or have a wealth of different branching types. The leaf base has leaf tubes or is stem luminous. Auxiliaries are missing.

Flowers and flowers
The grapey or double grape, rarely worn-old inflorescence usually contains no support leaves.

The twitty flowers are four-fold and due to the unequal stamens usually disymmetrical rarely zygomorphic. The name of the cruciferous flowers derives from the cruciform arrangement of the four crown leaves of the flower. They are in the shape of a cross, often one of the crown leaves being slightly larger than the other three. The four mostly free chalice leaves are arranged in two circles. There are usually four free crown leaves available, they are rarely missing.

Another important characteristic of cruciferous vegetables are the two circles with a total of six tetrads