Caught another leafy vegetable in bloom. This time, I came across a Chinese kale plant(Brassica alboglabra) in bloom. This vegetable is better known by its Chinese name as “kai lan”. It is the leafy green that is cooked by stir-frying and eaten with oyster sauce.
Interestingly, this oriental green is the one that I now know that bears white flowers. Most others produce flowers that are yellow in colour. Each flower is four-petalled and resembles the shape of a crucifix and this is the reason why the plant family which this vegetable and all other cabbage-like vegetables belong to is known as the Cruciferae. The name of this plant family has been changed and is now known as Brassicaceae.
Like many leafy vegetables in bloom, once the flower stalk appears, the plant will start to extend its growth upwards, the internodal distance also elongates. As a result, the plant loses its compact shape and usual appearance that we are all familiar with – the image that we remember from what we see from the greens sold in the market.
