Leaves sixteen to eighteen inches in length, very dark green, deeply lobed, or lyrate, and hairy, or hispid, on the nerves and borders. The leaf-stems are nearly white.
The variety produces small tufts, or collections of leaves, which are excellent for fodder, and which may be cut several times during the season. It is sometimes cultivated for stock; but, as a table vegetable, is of little value.
Flanders Kale. Thomp.
Chou Caulet de Flanders. Vil.
This is a sub-variety of the Tree-cabbage, from which it is distinguished by the purplish color of its foliage. Its height is nearly the same, and the plant has the same general appearance. It is, however, considered somewhat hardier.
Green Marrow-Stem Borecole.
Chou Moellier. Vil.
Stem green, about five feet high, clavate, or club-formed; thickest at the top, where it measures nearly two inches, and a half in diameter. This stem, or stalk, is filled with a succulent pith, or marrow, which is much relished by cattle; and, for this quality, the plant is sometimes cultivated. The leaves are large, and nearly entire on the edges; the leaf-stems are thick, short, white, and fleshy.
It is not so hardy as most of the other varieties. The plants should be grown about three feet apart in one direction, by two feet or two feet and a half in the opposite.
Lannilis Borecole.