This family contains about 3,000 species, distributed on all continents of the world, mainly in temperate and cold regions. These are mainly annual and biennial herbaceous plants with simple alternate leaves.

The flowers are regular, collected in simple or complex racemes (. 45). The flower has a calyx of 4 sepals, a corolla of 4 free petals arranged crosswise, 6 stamens, of which 4 are long, 2 short and one pistil. The flowers are pollinated by insects, so most of them have nectaries. The fruit is a pod, sometimes shortened (pod), with a partition dividing it into two nests.

Many cruciferous plants are harmful weeds of fields (colts, wild radish, shepherd's purse, field grass). These plants reproduce quickly, making them very difficult to control. For example, one shepherd's purse plant can produce up to 70 thousand seeds.

Cruciferous plants include many cultivated plants: vegetables (cabbage, turnip, rutabaga, radish, horseradish), oilseeds (rapeseed, mustard, camelina). The leaves, stems and roots of horseradish and mustard, like many other cruciferous vegetables, contain strongly odorous and pungent-tasting substances.

Cabbage. Man learned to grow cabbage more than 4 thousand years ago. The ancestor of cultivated varieties of cabbage - wild cabbage - grows along the shores of the Mediterranean Sea. Wild cabbage is a small plant with a tall stem and rounded leaves. As a result of centuries-old artificial selection, man has developed different forms of cabbage, in which different organs are used for food: leaves, stems, inflorescence rudiments.

White cabbage- biennial plant. Late varieties grow for about 150 days, and the frost-free period in the central CIS lasts about 100 days. Therefore, cabbage is first grown in greenhouses in the form of seedlings, and then, with the onset of warm weather, the seedlings are planted in the ground. In the first year of life, a tap root, a shortened stem - a stump, and large rounded leaves forming a head of cabbage - develop from the seeds of white cabbage. Between the leaves on the stem there are small lateral buds and one apical one. The white inner leaves of the cabbage head, devoid of chlorophyll, accumulate reserve organic substances formed in the green outer leaves and mineral salts absorbed by the roots. In the second year, cabbage blooms and produces fruits and seeds. To obtain seeds in the fall, the best, most developed heads of cabbage are selected. In the spring, before planting, the head of cabbage is carefully trimmed so as not to touch the buds. The stumps are planted in well-fertilized soil. Flower shoots develop from the buds, bearing pale yellow flowers typical of cruciferous plants, collected in an inflorescence - a raceme. After fertilization, a fruit develops from the ovary - a pod.

In addition to cabbage varieties, other varieties of cabbage are also cultivated. For example, cauliflower is bred, and its dense white flowers with underdeveloped flowers are eaten. Brussels sprouts are grown for the small heads of cabbage that form from the side buds, and kohlrabi cabbage is grown for the thick, juicy above-ground stem, similar to rutabaga and turnips.

The Latin name is cruciferae (brassicaceae).
Class dicotyledonous.

Description. The cruciferous family received its main name due to the cross-shaped petals of the flowers of the plants belonging to it. Another name appeared relatively recently in honor of its most famous representative - cabbage. Over 3 thousand species include vegetable plants (cabbage, turnip, radish, horseradish), oilseeds (rapeseed, camelina, rapeseed), forage (turnips, rutabaga), melliferous (rape), medicinal (mustard), ornamental (levy grass) and dyes, as well as weeds (jarutka, shepherd's purse).

The life forms of representatives of the family are characterized by relatively little diversity and range from herbs to subshrubs or shrubs. Most brassicas are annual or perennial herbs. Subshrubs with a lignified lower part of the stem are rarely found, and shrubs are represented by only single species, mainly growing on the African mainland and the islands of the Macronesian archipelago, for example, the shrub katran (crambe fruticosa), which reaches a height of up to 2 m.

The main feature of all groups of plants in the family is the similar structure of their flower and fruit. cruciferous flower consists of a calyx with four sepals, a corolla, which is four free petals arranged crosswise, six stamens (2 short and 4 long, sitting in pairs) and one pistil, in which the fruit is formed. In most cases, cabbage flowers are small or very small, collected in racemes that end the main stem of the plant or its branches. Their main colors are yellow and white, less often lilac or pink. Cruciferous flower formula: CH2+2L4T2+4P1 or K4C4A2+4G1.

The leaves of most members of the family are whole or dissected, lyre-shaped and devoid of stipules. They are located alternately, and the lower ones often form a basal rosette and differ from the upper ones in smaller size and shape. Typically, the leaves are covered with glandular hairs, which is why cruciferous plants have a distinctive, pungent odor. Root system rod-shaped, shoot closed, stem branching, straight, about 20 - 30 cm high.

Cruciferous fruit 2-lobed and represented by a long pod or a shortened pod (field grass, shepherd's purse), less often a nut (woad tincture and oriental woad). After ripening, it bursts in half, the flaps fall off, but what remains is a frame formed by seams and a thin partition stretched over it. Seeds in varying quantities are located on both sides of the frame at the seams. They are rich in oils, have no protein, and have fairly thick skins that become sticky when wet.

Spreading. Plants of the cruciferous family are distributed extremely unevenly around the globe. Their main number is concentrated in the temperate zone of the planet’s northern hemisphere. In the tropics they are less common and are represented by single species confined to mountainous areas. Brassicas have the ability to successfully adapt to a wide variety of habitats. Some of them have taken root in the highlands, reaching plant boundaries at an altitude of 4500-5700 m above sea level, where, along with lichens, they are the founders of the vegetation cover. Other cruciferous plants grow along sea coasts, move north, reaching the Arctic regions, and are also inhabitants of steppes, semi-deserts and deserts. In addition, the family is widely represented in forests, wetlands, and even in water.

Reproduction. Representatives of the cruciferous family are mainly adapted to cross-pollination, which in extreme cases (extreme heat, heavy rain or lack of insects) is replaced by self-pollination. Their main pollinators are bees, bumblebees and flies. Some plants, such as matthiola and hesperis, are pollinated by butterflies at night. Bees are attracted by the smell of honey-bearing species and the brightest flowers, while plants with small, inconspicuous flowers are visited mainly by flies. Among the cabbage plants there are also purely self-pollinating species that are never visited by insects, for example the Australian stenopetalum.

Cruciferous seeds are spread in quite a variety of ways. In most species, the fruits are winged or bubble-like swollen, or the seeds are edged with a wing, so they are easily carried by the wind. There is also a whole series plants whose fruits have hook-shaped outgrowths, with which they cling to the fur of animals and move with them. In rare cases, the plant itself scatters the seeds. Thus, in cardamine hirsuta, the pod valves open with enormous force, due to which the seeds scatter over a considerable distance in different directions.

Vegetable, fodder, oilseed and honey crops of the cruciferous family have the widest economic importance, but the main role, of course, belongs to cabbage, in which vitamin “C” is not destroyed during storage, both fresh and salted. Many types of cabbages are successfully used in medicine (shepherd's purse, mustard, camelina), and lefty is the most striking decorative representative of the family. Some weeds (shepherd's purse, jarutka, hickory) are a serious headache for workers agriculture, since their destruction requires a special processing regime.

Family Cruciferous (Brassicaceae) covers approximately 3,200 species belonging to 380 genera in the flora of the globe.

52. Brassica family. Life forms. Bioecological characteristics. Economic importance.

In Russia, the diversity of cruciferous vegetables is quite large and amounts to 466 species from 96 genera.

In general, the range of the family covers almost the entire globe (Cosmopolitan family), but in distribution it clearly gravitates to the temperate and cold regions of the Northern Hemisphere. The greatest species and genus diversity is concentrated in the Mediterranean and Iranian-Turanian regions (Foreign Asia), which allows us to speak of them as regions of formation and formation of this family.

Cruciferous plants are mainly herbaceous plants, among which there are perennials, biennials, and annuals.

There are significantly fewer subshrubs, and there are only a few species of shrubs. Among cruciferous plants, monocarpic plants are widely represented, i.e. species that bloom and bear fruit only once in their life and die off after the seeds ripen. Cruciferous plants are one of the few families in which biennials are quite widely represented, i.e. species that in the first year develop only a vegetative rosette in the above-ground sphere, which then overwinters; a peduncle with flowers and then with fruits develops in the second year of life; After fruiting the plant dies.

Another touch to the biological “face” of the family is the ability of a number of species to develop in the most extreme habitats. Some representatives of the genus Krupka (Draba) are found on the most extreme land outposts of the islands of the Arctic Ocean.

In the highlands, cruciferous plants reach an altitude of 5700 m above sea level. An optional biological feature of many cruciferous plants is the ability for reserve self-pollination, which is realized in cases where for some reason (mainly due to the climatic conditions of the current year) there are no pollinating insects.

Among the signs of the vegetative sphere, one should note simple alternate leaves of varying degrees of dissection, without stipules. In the vegetative organs of cruciferous plants there are special cells (idioblasts) containing myrosin.

In seeds and vegetative organs, accumulation of glycosides and caustic essential oils, alkaloids and fatty oils is also characteristic. Very important taxonomic information is the nature of the pubescence of the vegetative (as well as generative) organs. The range of cruciferous hair types is unusually wide; the main types are simple, glandular, branched, forked (Malpighian), stellate.

The general plan of the flower structure within the family is quite uniform; the differences lie mainly in the size and color of the corolla petals.

The flowers are actinomorphic, bisexual, with a double perianth, two-membered, six-circular.

The calyx is formed by four free sepals, arranged in two circles and pressed tightly against the petals during flowering.

In a number of species, swellings or depressions for nectar are formed at the base of the sepals.

The corolla consists of four separate, usually yellow or white, less often purple or pink petals. The petals usually have long nails and are arranged in one circle (apparently they arose as a result of the splitting of two petal primordia). In some species the petals vary slightly in size, and then the corolla is slightly zygomorphic.

The androecium of most cruciferous plants consists of six stamens arranged in two circles: two short stamens form the outer circle, and four longer ones are located in the inner circle.

Nectaries are often located at the base of the stamens.

The gynoecium is syncarpous, formed by two fused carpels with a longitudinal septum. Ovary superior; the stigma is sessile or on a style, capitate or bilobed.

Thus, the general plan of the structure of a cruciferous flower can be written by the formula:

*K2+2C4A2+(2*2)G(2)

The flowers do not have bracts or bracts and are usually collected in simple or complex racemes; True, at the beginning of flowering the inflorescence has a corymbose shape and only then, after flowering, it greatly lengthens, takes on the shape of a brush.

The main type of fruit is a pod.

Sometimes it has a spout - the upper part of the ovary, devoid of ovules. The pod opens with two doors. In this case, a frame of fused edges of the carpels with a false septum stretched over it, carrying seeds, remains on the stalk. A number of cruciferous plants have indehiscent fruits that fall off entirely, or fruits that are segmented and break transversely into single-seeded segments.

Pods whose length does not exceed the width or exceeds it by no more than three times are called pods.

They can also open with two valves or be indehiscent nut-shaped (Sverbiga - Bunias) or articulated (Katran - Crambe).

Cruciferous fruits carry a large amount of taxonomic information and are extremely important in their identification.

Many cruciferous vegetables have long been widely used by humans. Among the useful plants, representatives of the genus Brassica stand out: a large number of forms of cabbage (forms of Brassica oleracea), turnips and turnips (Brassica rapa), rapeseed (Brassica napus var.

napus), rutabaga (Brassica napus var. napobrassica), Sarepta mustard (Brassica juncea). Species of the genus Raphanus play a significant role in human life: vegetable radish (Raphanus sativus var.

sativus), radish (Raphanus sativus var. radicula) and the noxious weed wild radish (Raphanus raphanistrum). Watercress (Lepidium sativum) and horseradish (Armoracia rusticana) have long been cultivated by humans. In addition to vegetable and forage plants, the family also contains oilseeds - mustard, rapeseed, camelina (Camelina sativa), ornamental plants - matthiola (Matthiola), night violet (Hesperis matronalis), dye plants - woad (Isatis tinctoria).

In addition to the mentioned wild radish, there are quite a lot of weeds among cruciferous crops - common cress (Barbarea vulgaris), field grass (Thlaspi arvense), shepherd's purse (Capsella bursa-pastoris), etc.

Many cruciferous plants play a noticeable and sometimes significant role in the vegetation cover of many regions.

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CRUCIFA, brassicas (Cruciferae, Brassicaceae), family of dicotyledonous flowering plants. Herbs, subshrubs, rarely shrubs. The leaves are alternate, sometimes in a basal rosette. The flowers are 4-membered, have a cruciform structure (hence the name), usually white or yellow, often collected in side-flowering inflorescences (tassel, spike, scutellum, panicle), less often solitary; the androecium is usually represented by 2 external short stamens and 4 internal long ones, the gynoecium is formed by 2, rarely 4 carpels, the ovary is superior.

The fruit is a pod or pod.

Family Cruciferae

330 genera and up to 3,500 species, distributed from polar latitudes to the tropics, with the greatest diversity in temperate latitudes, and occupying almost all ecological niches. In Russia, cruciferous plants have more than 100 genera and about 480 species. Representatives of the cruciferous family are of great economic importance. Among them are the most important food and forage plants - cabbage, radish, radish, turnip, mustard, rapeseed, horseradish, watercress, rutabaga and many others.

Cruciferous plants also include medicinal (for example, jaundice, shepherd's purse), dyeing (woad), and ornamental (levy, noctule, alyssum) plants. Almost all representatives of cruciferous plants - good honey plants. Among the cruciferous crops there are many weeds (for example, bedbug, rapeseed, and jarutka). 20 species of cruciferous plants in Russia are protected.

Cruciferous vegetables are so close to capers that it is not always easy to draw a line between them. Some genera, for example the genus Dipterygium, are included by some botanists in the caper family, and by others in the cruciferous family. There are up to 380 genera in the family and. about 3200 species. They are distributed extremely unevenly around the globe. Mainly concentrated in the temperate zone of the northern hemisphere, mainly in the Old World. In the tropics they are represented by single genera, confined to mountainous regions; they are also found there through introduction and as weeds. A small number of cruciferous plants growing in the southern hemisphere are highly localized.

Cruciferous plants successfully adapt to a wide variety of habitats. Some of them are confined to the extreme conditions of the highlands, reaching the boundaries of vegetation (4500-5700 m above sea level), where, together with lichens, they are pioneers of vegetation cover; others grow along sea coasts; some in their distribution move far to the north and are characteristic of the Arctic regions; others are inhabitants of deserts, semi-deserts and steppes. Cruciferous plants are also widely represented in forests, among steppe vegetation, in moist places and even in water, but plants of arid and dry habitats definitely predominate among them. However, despite such high plasticity in adaptation to environmental conditions, there is a relatively small diversity of life forms. Most cruciferous plants are annual or perennial herbs; there are also subshrubs in which the lower part of the stem becomes woody. Shrubs are represented by single, predominantly African and Macaronesian species, such as, for example, the bush dog (Crambe fruticosa) on the island of Madeira, reaching a height of 2 m, species of the genus Sinapidendron (Macaronesia), heliophila glauca (Cape region) or Billot's foleyola (Foleyola billotii - Sahara), reaching a height of up to 1.5-2 m. Species such as climbing heliophila (H. scandens), and species of the South American genus Cremolobus (Cremolobus) are habitually close to lianas. Many of the high-altitude species have a pillow-like shape that helps retain heat. Cruciferous leaves are alternate, with the lower ones often forming a basal rosette. Some species exhibit heterophylly. For example, in the pierced-leaved bug (Lepidium perfoliatum), the rosette leaves are dissected into narrow linear lobes, while the stem leaves are solid, round, and stem-covering. Among the cruciferous plants there are plants both completely glabrous and pubescent with simple or forked or stellately branched hairs. Multi-rayed stellate hairs often resemble scales. The pubescence also involves glandular hairs and the so-called malpighian hairs - spread out, bifid, attached in the middle. Cruciferous plants are characterized by apical racemes or corymboses, usually (or with rare exceptions) leafless inflorescences, which are sometimes very shortened, almost capitate, or, conversely, elongated, spike-shaped. The American inflated caulanthus (Caulanthus inflatus, Fig. 30), in which the axis of the inflorescence is strongly fusiformly thickened and the flowers sitting on it, and then the fruits, create the impression of cauliflory. The flowers are usually devoid of both bracts and bracts, not large, often very small, inconspicuous, but many are also beautifully colored, giving the plant great decorativeness.

In their structure they are extremely uniform. The sepals, arranged in two circles (2 each), may be sac-like at the base, and in such cases nectar flows into these containers. There are also 4 petals, free, arranged crosswise (hence the name cruciferous). The color of the petals is dominated by yellow and white colors, but plants with violet, pinkish, even purple flowers are also common. The petals are generally wider in the upper part. They are in most cases entire or notched, but among the cruciferous plants there are also species with lobed (North American genus Warea), pinnately dissected and even ciliated-fringed (Mexican ornithocarpa - Ornithocarpa, for example) petals. There are usually 6 stamens arranged in 2 circles. Of these, 2 lateral ones (outer circle) are short, 4 middle ones are longer. Sometimes the median ones grow together in two with their threads. In rare cases, all stamens are the same length or 3 each different lengths. Their number can sometimes be reduced to 4 or even 2, or, as in the strider (Macropodium), reaches 10. In a number of species, the stamens are equipped with appendages or their threads grow in the form of teeth and wings. Gynoecium of 2 carpels. Along the seam of fusion of the carpels, a false septum is formed, dividing the ovary into 2 nests. Usually the ovary is sessile, but in some species it sits on a rather long gynophore (similar to capers). The structural features of the ovules play an important role in the taxonomy of cruciferous plants. The cotyledons are usually flat, but they can also be folded lengthwise, like those of cabbage, less often folded transversely, like those of Heliophila, or spirally twisted (Sverbiga - Bunias). According to the location of the embryonic root in relation to the cotyledons, they are marginal and dorsal radicular.

If the structure of all other organs of cruciferous plants is quite uniform, then the same cannot be said about their fruits, the structural features of which are most widely used in the taxonomy of the family (Fig. 31). Elongated fruits, the length of which significantly exceeds the width, are called pods, while short ones are called pods. Both of them can be double-opening or non-opening. In dehiscent fruits, after the valves fall off, a frame remains on the stalks (like some capers), covered by a false septum. For example, species of moonflower (Lunaria) are very popular, the frames of large oval pods of which are very decorative. In pods that do not open, the valves often become very compacted and the pods become nut-shaped. Of particular interest are two-membered fruits, consisting of an upper, always indehiscent segment and a lower, opening or indehiscent one. In some cases the upper segment is seedless, in others the lower, in most cases both segments contain seeds. Among the two-membered fruits, the pods or pods also differ. Cruciferous fruits also vary greatly in size, shape of the valves and various outgrowths on them.

Cruciferous plants are adapted to both cross-pollination and self-pollination. The main pollinators are flies, bees, bumblebees; Some species, such as the gillyflower (Matthiola) or the noctule grass (Hesperis, Table 10), are pollinated by butterflies at night. Bees are attracted by the smell of honey-bearing species, as well as by the most colorful flowers. Those species whose flowers are small and inconspicuous are visited mainly by flies. Insects are also attracted by color contrasts that sometimes occur during flowering and fruiting. Thus, in some species with inconspicuous small flowers, for example, in the stonefly (Erophila), the small white petals of the lower flowers of the inflorescence that begin to bear fruit do not fall off, but double in size and are pressed against the unripe fruits, which have a purple tint. This creates a sort of halo around the flowers that are beginning to bloom. In another case, for example, in the field flower (Thlaspi arvense), in which the flowers are also small and white, the sepals of fading flowers become yellow. In Iberis species, conspicuousness is ensured by the much larger outer petals of the marginal flowers of the inflorescence, like many umbrella flowers. In some species of alyssum (Sisymbrium), alyssum (Alyssum), and toothwort (Dentaria), this effect is achieved due to the fact that the petals of flowers with already set fruits do not fall off, but begin to increase in size, thereby attracting insects to the remaining blooming flowers.

Cross pollination in cruciferous plants is ensured due to their inherent dichogamy. Most of them are characterized by protogyny; protandry is observed extremely rarely. In cases where cross-pollination cannot occur for any reason (heavy rains, extreme heat, lack of pollinators), cruciferous plants are pollinated due to the ability to self-pollinate (autogamy). The mechanism of combined pollination can be observed, for example, in field mustard (Sinapis arvensis) or meadow mustard (Cardamine pratense). At the beginning of flowering, the anthers of the long stamens turn outward, as a result of which their pollen does not land on the stigma of its flower, but can stick to the sides of pollinating insects that penetrate deep into the flower to the base of the stamens for nectar. However, if the stigma is not pollinated by foreign pollen, then by the end of flowering it is pollinated by short stamens, which during this time reach the same level as it. In inclement weather, when there are no insects, the anthers of the long stamens do not turn away and pollinate the stigma of their flower. Among the cruciferous plants there are also plants in which, at the beginning of flowering, the stamens deviate entirely outward, and then rise, bringing the anthers closer to the stigma and pollinating it. In watercress (Lepidium sativum), petiola (Alliaria petiolata), and alpine braya (Braya alpina), at the beginning of flowering all the stamens are shorter than the stigma, then 4 of them elongate and the anthers come into contact with the stigma. However, only one stamen empties pollen onto its stigma; the remaining anthers open later, preserving pollen for cross-pollination.

Examples can also be given where self-pollination predominates in some species of the same genus, while cross-pollination predominates in others. Thus, the alpine lily (Thlaspi alpina) is always capable of self-pollination, since by the end of flowering the stamens bend over the stigma. Conversely, mountain grass (T. montana) is predominantly cross-pollinating, as most plants have stamens shorter than the stigma. Exclusively cross-pollinating plants can be found in the Constanta rhizome (Arabis constancii): their stigmas are exposed from the bud even before the flower opens and later, when the stamens reach its level, it turns away from them so that it cannot be pollinated by their pollen. In such plants, the likelihood of self-pollination is also excluded by the biochemical incompatibility of pollen and the surface of the stigma - its own pollen does not germinate.

Among the cruciferous plants there are also purely self-pollinating plants. These include species of the Australian genus Stenopetalum, never visited by insects, which sometimes even produce cleistogamous flowers. This can be seen as an adaptation to the harsh conditions of Western and South Australia, which are not always conducive to pollination. Another Australian plant, the tiny geococcus (Geococcus pusillus, Fig. 30), has all the flowers cleistogamous. Thanks to long, downward-pointing pedicels, they burrow into the ground and bear fruit there (geocarpy). Partial cleistogamy is characteristic of the Brazilian heartwood (Cardamine chenopodiifolium), in which, in addition to the normal flowers of the apical inflorescence, cleistogamous flowers are formed at the base of the stem, which are also buried in the ground. In rare cases, with excessive moisture or flooding, cleistogamy manifests itself in some species of bedbugs (Lepidium), waterwort (Subularia aquatica), and with increased dryness - field mustard.

Anemophily, which is usually observed in petless Kerguelen cabbage, or pringley (Pringlea antiscorbutica, Fig. 30), can be considered as a completely exceptional phenomenon for cruciferous plants. Successful wind pollination of this island subantarctic species is facilitated by long stamens protruding from the flower, long filiform papillae on the stigma and a dense spike-shaped inflorescence.

Cruciferous plants are adapted to the distribution of fruits and seeds in quite a variety of ways. Many of them are classified as anemochores. These are mainly species with winged or bubble-like swollen fruits, many species with small, light seeds that are easily dispersed by the wind, or with seeds trimmed with a wing. Sometimes the upper segments of two-membered fruits fall off together with one of the valves of the lower segment or part of the septum, which also increases the windage.

Among the cruciferous plants there are also a number of species that have hook-shaped outgrowths on their fruits. Thanks to this, they cling to the fur of animals and are carried by them. Of the zoochorous species, the myrmecochorous bladder bug (Lepidium vesicarium) is very curious, the plants of which are often located concentrically around anthills, as can be seen on the Ararat Plain in Armenia. In some cases, the seeds are scattered due to the “efforts” of the plant itself. Thus, in the heart of the impatiens (Cardamine impatiens) and the rough heart (C. hirsuta), the pod valves open with such force that the seeds fly off a considerable distance. Another type of heartwood is quite unusual, in which, in addition to the pods, brown bulbs are formed in the axils of the leaves, which, falling off, germinate. The so-called rose of Jericho, or anastatica (Anastatica hierochimtica), is widely known as a tumbleweed. This small annual plant, native to the desert regions of Western Asia and northern Africa, produces fruits that ripen at the start of the dry season. By this time, its numerous branches are tightly compressed and rounded flat pods remain inside the lump. Having taken on a spherical shape, the dried stem is often torn off the root by the wind and rolled over. With the onset of rain, the moistened branches straighten again, thus resembling a blooming rose. It is then, with abundant moisture, that the pods open (hygrochasia) and disperse the seeds. Hygrochasia is generally characteristic of most cruciferous plants with fruits that are difficult to open. The seeds of indehiscent fruits, protected from unfavorable conditions by a dense case, germinate only after it rots. Many species adapted to dry conditions are characterized by mucilage of the seed coat (myxospermia). Tiny soil particles adhere to the mucus, which secure the seeds and protect them from being carried into unusual environmental conditions.

One of the features of many cruciferous plants, which significantly increases their adaptive capabilities, is heterocarpy in its most diverse manifestations. In some cases, parts of the fruit differ (heteroarthrocarpy), as is observed in many species with two-membered fruits; in other cases, the entire fruit differs. Heterocarpy provides combined methods of propagation, as well as more reliable preservation of seeds and the possibility of their germination under changing conditions. One example of combined anthropo-, hydro- and anemochory can be the distribution features of the two-membered fruits of the sea mustard (Cakile maritima), which lives on sea coasts (Fig. 32). Both parts of the fruit contain one seed. The upper segments, thanks to the highly developed spongy tissue, covered on the outside with a thick leathery layer, adhere well to the water and are carried by sea currents. The lower segments remain on the stems, which, after drying out, are torn from the root and rolled over by the wind. Since sea mustard often grows near ports, the upper parts of its fruits often end up on ships along with the cargo and are carried over long distances. It is in this way that the “native” of the Mediterranean sea mustard is now widespread outside the Old World and has successfully naturalized in America and Australia, where it penetrated along with the first colonists. This, undoubtedly, was facilitated by its high vitality, as evidenced by one of nature’s curious experiments. In November 1963, a new island was formed in the Atlantic Ocean, 20 miles south of Iceland, as a result of the eruption of an underwater volcano. The first vascular plant on this island was sea mustard, discovered there already in July 1965. The fruits of the seaweed (Crambe maritima) are also distributed by sea currents.

No less interesting is the manifestation of heterocarpy in the double carp (Diptychocarpus strictus). This small annual, confined to desert habitats, develops three types of pods on one plant: upper, flat, easily opening with two valves, then difficult to open, ripening much later, and finally, the lowermost pods, not opening, with very thickened valves and partition. The winged seeds of the upper pods are dispersed by the wind; Pods that are difficult to open remain on the stem for a long time and lie down with it; non-opening pods fall around the mother plant and their seeds germinate only during heavy rains, when the surrounding dense tissues rot, while the unprotected seeds of the upper pods die. Among dicarp plants, sometimes there are specimens with only dehiscent or only non-dehiscent pods, and this often leads to scientific oddities when they are assigned to other genera.

Heterocarpy is also well expressed in two species of pterygoid (Aethionema): in Aethionema, the upper pods are indehiscent, single-locular, with compacted valves, the rest are dehiscent, bilocular; in the fleshy pterygoid (A. carneum), on the contrary, only the lowest pods do not open. An inhabitant of sandy deserts, the sandy sickle-borer (Spirorhyncus sabulosus) has spindle-shaped fruits at the base of its shoots, which, when dropped, are buried in the sand. The upper curved pods are easily torn off by the wind, interlock with each other and roll into balls. A similar thing is observed in Boissier woad (Isatis boissieri), the upper winged pods of which are carried by the wind, the lower wingless ones fall around the plant. No less interesting in cruciferous plants is another type of heterocarpy - amphicarpy, observed in the Brazilian heartwood (Cardamine chenopodiifolia) and Heterocarpus fernandezianus, growing on the Juan Fernandez Islands. In these species, along with the usual dehiscent pods of the apical inflorescence, basal cleistogamous flowers develop, which, burrowing into the ground, form numerous single-seeded indehiscent pods (geocarpy). At the same time, in unfavorable years, above-ground inflorescences often do not reach fruiting, while underground fruits always ripen. Numerous attempts to build a system for the cruciferous family have not led to the creation of a generally accepted system. Modern systems are directed towards the consolidation of tribes (Al-Shahbaz, 1973; Avetisyan, 1976).

The most primitive genera of cruciferous plants are included in the tribe Thelypodieae. In many of them, the fruits sit on the gynophore and the stamens are long, protruding from the flower, which brings cruciferous plants closer to caperaceae. Stanleya, which has the most primitive features, is linked in its appearance to the supposed ancestor of the cruciferous plants. Telipodiums are distributed mainly in the Pacific part of North America, in particular in the Rocky Mountains. Only the strider (Macropodium), growing on Sakhalin and southern Siberia, is the only representative of the tribe outside the American continent. Two more small tribes of cruciferous plants are confined to the American continent, mainly to the Pacific region of South America and Central America - the Schizopetalae (Schizopetaleae) with characteristic pinnately dissected or fringed petals and the Cremolobeae (Cremolobeae) with widely or multiply winged double fruits.

The most extensive is the central tribe of gulavnikov (Sisymbrieae), covering the main generic and species composition of the family. The Gulavnikovaceae are characterized by a strong variation in the shape of the fruits, the general structure of which comes down to dehiscent and non-dehiscent pods and pods, both with a wide and a narrow partition. The main center of morphological diversity of this tribe is the Iran-Turanian floristic region, where there are about 80 endemic genera. Being widespread in the temperate zone of the northern hemisphere, a number of endemics, as well as cosmopolitan genera, are represented in America, Africa, Australia and New Zealand. The next largest tribe is the cabbage tribe (Brassiceae), whose representatives differ sharply from other cruciferous plants in their two-membered fruits and longitudinally folded cotyledons. The main center of distribution of this tribe is in the arid regions of the Mediterranean and the adjacent desert zones of Africa and southwest Asia. Representatives of Brassicas can also be found on various continents, but they are mainly cultivated plants or weeds.

The remaining cruciferous tribes are geographically extremely isolated and much poorer in composition.

One of the unusual cruciferous plants is the only representative of the Pringleae tribe - Kerguelen cabbage, which also has exposed stamens and a long, dense, spike-shaped inflorescence. Kerguelen cabbage, so named because of its large, fleshy basal leaves that have antiscorbutic properties, grows exclusively on the subantarctic islands of Kerguelen and Crozet, located south of the Indian Ocean. The following two tribes are known from the Cape region. One of them - Chamireae - is represented by only one species - Chamira circaeoides with large cotyledons, which do not fall off after seed germination, grow strongly and are significantly larger than the stem leaves. The second South African tribe is the heliophilae (Heliophilae) with doubly transversely folded cotyledons, not found in other members of the family. Of particular interest among heliophilaceae are species with tree-like stems. Among the cruciferous plants there is also a purely Australian tribe - Stenopetaleae, the main distinguishing feature of the only genus of which - Stenopetalon - are filiform-linear, very long petals, many times larger than the tightly compressed sepals.

The economic importance of cruciferous vegetables is difficult to overestimate. Vegetables, oilseeds, fodder and honey crops are the most widely known among them, but the main role belongs, of course, to cabbage in all its diversity. Cabbage has been cultivated since prehistoric times, and the first information about it dates back to the Neolithic. Many researchers, starting with Charles Darwin, believe that all currently existing cultivated forms of cabbage come from the wild form of cabbage (Brassica oleracea), others - from what is considered as independent type wild cabbage (Brassica sylveslris), others associate them with a number of Mediterranean species. For several millennia, no plant has provided man with such extensive material for selection as cabbage. The most popular is cabbage, many forms and varieties of which are cultivated on all continents. Of these, cabbage is the main food plant in temperate latitude countries. The taste of varieties such as kohlrabi, cauliflower and its varieties of broccoli is undeniable. Many local varieties are especially preferred by the population of certain countries. Thus, one of the oldest cultivated plants cultivated in China and Japan are Chinese cabbage (B. chinensis) and Chinese cabbage (B. pekinensis). Various varieties of radishes and radishes (Raphanus sativus) are also widely known as vegetable plants among cruciferous plants, as well as horseradish (Armoracia rusticana) and Sarepta mustard (Brassica juncea) as spicy seasonings. One of the cultivated horticultural crops is watercress, grown on a large scale in the Caucasus. A number of wild cruciferous vegetables are also used as salad, such as spoon grass (Cochlearia), indau (Eruca sativa), rapeseed (Barbarea vulgaris), watercress (Nasturtium officinale) and many others, and shepherd's purse (Capsella bursa-pastoris) is already more It has been bred as a vegetable for 100 years in China. Young shoots and leaf petioles of the sea katran, or seaweed (Crambe maritima), are often consumed like asparagus, and in Central Asia, the roots of the Kochi katran (C. kotschyana) are used to make flour from which flat cakes are baked. A number of cultivated oilseed crops are of great economic importance: rapeseed (Brassica napus var. napus), Sarepta mustard, black mustard (Brassica nigra), white mustard (Sinapis alba), camelina (Camelina saliva), Abyssinian katran (Crambe abyssinica). Of these, in temperate latitudes, the most productive oilseed plant is rapeseed, the seeds of which contain up to 50% oil. It has a purely technical application - it is used in hardening steels; after special treatment, it vulcanizes well, forming a rubber-like mass (factis), which is used to soften hard rubbers and make pencil erasers. Sarepta mustard oil has food application, mainly in the confectionery and baking industries and in the production of margarine and canned food, and the powder (cake) is table mustard. Ryzhik is the only thing cultivated plant among cruciferous vegetables, producing a semi-drying oil. It is used in soap making, for making drying oil and as a lubricant for tractors. In the USA, the high-yielding Lesquerella fendleri is introduced into cultivation as a fat and oil seed, the seeds of which do not fall off and can be harvested with a combine. In dry areas it is even recommended instead of wheat. Most oilseeds are also excellent honey plants. There are many honey and essential oil plants among wild cruciferous plants.

Valuable forage plants such as rutabaga (Brassica napus var. napobrassica), turnip and turnip (Brassica rapa) also belong to the cruciferous family. In addition, fodder cabbage, rapeseed and bee bread (a hybrid of rapeseed and fodder cabbage) are sown as green fodder.

Many cruciferous vegetables, due to their high content of vitamins, especially vitamin C, are widely used in folk medicine. The herb of some species of jaundice (Erysimum) contains erysimilactone, which is used in cardiac preparations. Shepherd's purse, one of the popular plants in Tibetan and Chinese medicine. Indigo dye is obtained from the leaves of woad (Isatis tinctoria, Table 10). In cruciferous floriculture, various varieties of gillyflower (Matthiola incana) are widely known, as well as some types of alyssum (Alyssurn), used in the design of flower beds and as border plants. Many wild species are also highly decorative, which deserves special attention. At the same time, among cruciferous crops, there are also malicious weeds that require special treatment.

Forest herbaceous plants

FAMILY CRUCIFERAE, BRASSICACEAE- A large family of 3,200 species of herbs, subshrubs and shrubs from 380 genera, distributed throughout the world (but mainly in temperate and cold zones). Over 700 grow in the USSR wild species cruciferous vegetables from 130... Meadow herbaceous plants

Brassicas Common cress (Barbarea vulgaris) Scientific classification Kingdom: Plants Division ... Wikipedia

- (Brassicaceae, or Cruciferae) family of dicotyledonous plants. Herbs, less often subshrubs or shrubs with alternate simple leaves without stipules. The flowers are mostly in racemes, usually bisexual. Sepals and petals 4 each,... ... Big Soviet encyclopedia- cabbage plants (Cruciferae, or Brassicaceae), a family of dicotyledonous flowering plants. Annual and perennial herbs, rarely subshrubs and shrubs. Leaves are alternate, whole or dissected, without stipules. The flowers are bisexual with four... Collier's Encyclopedia

Horseradish (ARMORACIA SISYMBRIOIDES (DC.) CAJAND.)- see Horseradish is a large perennial with long fleshy roots more than 1 cm thick, up to 1 m high, branching at the top, with ribbed stems. The basal leaves are oblong, serrated along the edges, very large, up to 50 cm long and up to ... Meadow herbaceous plants

List of species included in the second edition of the Red Book of the Arkhangelsk Region, published in 2008. The new edition includes 203 species of 5 species of fungi, 10 species of lichens, 46 species of mosses, 90 species of vascular plants, 4 species of invertebrates and... ... Wikipedia

And herbaceous plants (wild flowers),
20 colored laminated definition tables, including: woody plants (trees in winter, trees in summer, shrubs in winter and shrubs in summer), herbaceous plants (flowers of forests, meadows and fields, ponds and swamps and primroses), as well as mushrooms, algae, lichens and mosses ,
8 colored determinants herbaceous plants (wild flowers) of central Russia (Ventana-Graf publishing house), as well as
65 methodological benefits And 40 educational and methodological films By methods carrying out research work in nature (in the field).

FAMILY CRUCIFLOWERS - BRASSICACEAE, or CRUCIFERAE

The family has up to 380 genera and about 3200 species . They are distributed extremely unevenly around the globe. Mainly concentrated in the temperate zone of the northern hemisphere. In the tropics they are represented by single genera, confined to mountainous regions; they are also found there through introduction and as weeds. A small number of cruciferous plants growing in the southern hemisphere are highly localized.

Cruciferous plants successfully adapt to a wide variety of habitats . Some of them are confined to the extreme conditions of the highlands, reaching the boundaries of vegetation (4500-5700 m above sea level), where, together with lichens, they are pioneers of vegetation cover; others grow along sea coasts; some in their distribution move far to the north and are characteristic of the Arctic regions; others are inhabitants of deserts, semi-deserts and steppes. Cruciferous plants are also widely represented in forests, among steppe vegetation, in moist places and even in water, but plants of arid and dry habitats definitely predominate among them.

However, despite such high plasticity in adaptation to environmental conditions, there is a relatively small diversity of life forms. Most cruciferous plants are annual or perennial herbs, there is also subshrubs , in which the lower part of the stem becomes woody.

Leaves cruciferous plants are alternate, with the lower ones often forming a basal rosette. Some species exhibit heterophylly. Among the cruciferous plants there are plants both completely glabrous and pubescent with simple or forked or stellately branched hairs. Multi-rayed stellate hairs often resemble scales. The pubescence also involves glandular hairs and the so-called malpighian hairs - spread out, bifid, attached in the middle.

Cruciferous plants are characterized by apical racemes or corymboses, usually (or with rare exceptions) leafless inflorescences, which are sometimes very shortened, almost capitate, or, conversely, elongated, spicate.

Flowers usually devoid of both bracts and bracts, not large, often very small, inconspicuous, but many are also beautifully colored, giving the plant great decorativeness. In their structure they are extremely uniform. The sepals, arranged in two circles (2 each), may be sac-like at the base, and in such cases nectar flows into these containers. There are also 4 petals, free, arranged crosswise (hence the name cruciferous). The color of the petals is dominated by yellow and white, but plants with violet, pinkish, even purple flowers are also not uncommon. The petals are generally wider in the upper part. In most cases they are entire or notched, but among the cruciferous plants there are also types with lobed, pinnately dissected and even ciliated-fringed. There are usually 6 stamens arranged in 2 circles. Of these, 2 lateral ones (outer circle) are short, 4 middle ones are longer. Sometimes the median ones grow together in two with their threads. In rare cases, all stamens are the same length or 3 of different lengths. Their number can sometimes be reduced to 4 or even 2, or even reach 16. In a number of species, the stamens are equipped with appendages or their threads grow in the form of teeth and wings. Gynoecium of 2 carpels. Along the seam of fusion of the carpels, a false septum is formed, dividing the ovary into 2 nests. Usually the ovary is sessile, but in some species it sits on a rather long gynophore. The structural features of the ovules play an important role in the taxonomy of cruciferous plants. The cotyledons are usually flat, but they can also be folded lengthwise, like those of cabbage, less often folded transversely, or spirally twisted ( sverbiga - Bunias). According to the location of the embryonic root in relation to the cotyledons, they are marginal and dorsal radicular.

Cruciferous plants are adapted to both cross pollination , and to self-pollination . The main pollinators are flies, bees, bumblebees; some species are pollinated at night by butterflies. Bees are attracted by the smell of honey-bearing species, as well as by the most colorful flowers. Those species whose flowers are small and inconspicuous are visited mainly by flies. Insects are also attracted by color contrasts that sometimes occur during flowering and fruiting.
Cross pollination in cruciferous plants is ensured due to their inherent dichogamy. Most of them are characterized by protogyny; protandry is observed extremely rarely. In cases where cross-pollination cannot occur for any reason (heavy rains, extreme heat, lack of pollinators), cruciferous plants are pollinated due to the ability to self-pollinate (autogamy). The mechanism of combined pollination can be observed, for example, in meadow core (Cardamine pratense). At the beginning of flowering, the anthers of the long stamens turn outward, as a result of which their pollen does not land on the stigma of its flower, but can stick to the sides of pollinating insects that penetrate deep into the flower to the base of the stamens for nectar. However, if the stigma is not pollinated by foreign pollen, then by the end of flowering it is pollinated by short stamens, which during this time reach the same level as it. In inclement weather, when there are no insects, the anthers of the long stamens do not turn away and pollinate the stigma of their flower. Among the cruciferous plants there are also plants in which, at the beginning of flowering, the stamens deviate entirely outward, and then rise, bringing the anthers closer to the stigma and pollinating it. However, only one stamen empties pollen onto its stigma; the remaining anthers open later, preserving pollen for cross-pollination.

If the structure of all other organs of cruciferous plants is quite uniform, then the same cannot be said about their fruits, the structural features of which are most widely used in the taxonomy of the family. Elongated fruits, the length of which significantly exceeds the width, are called pods, while short ones are called pods. Both of them can be double-opening or non-opening. In dehiscent fruits, after the valves fall off, a frame remains on the stalks, covered by a false septum. In pods that do not open, the valves often become very compacted and the pods become nut-shaped. Of particular interest are two-membered fruits, consisting of an upper, always indehiscent segment and a lower, opening or indehiscent one. In some cases the upper segment is seedless, in others the lower, in most cases both segments contain seeds. Among the two-membered fruits, the pods or pods also differ. Cruciferous fruits also vary greatly in size, shape of the valves and various outgrowths on them.

TO dissemination fruits And seeds Cruciferous plants are adapted quite diversely. Many of them are classified as anemochores. These are mainly species with winged or bubble-like-swollen fruits, many species with small, light seeds that are easily carried by the wind, or with seeds trimmed with a wing. Sometimes the upper segments of two-membered fruits fall off together with one of the valves of the lower segment or part of the septum, which also increases the windage.
Among the cruciferous plants there are also a number of species that have hook-shaped outgrowths on their fruits. Thanks to this, they cling to the fur of animals and are carried by them. In some cases, the seeds are scattered due to the “efforts” of the plant itself.
Most cruciferous plants with difficult-to-open fruits are characterized by hygrochasia. The seeds of indehiscent fruits, protected from unfavorable conditions by a dense case, germinate only after it rots. Many species adapted to dry conditions are characterized by mucilage of the seed coat (myxospermia). Tiny soil particles adhere to the mucus, which secure the seeds and protect them from being carried into unusual environmental conditions.
One of the features of many cruciferous plants, which significantly increases their adaptive capabilities, is heterocarpy in its most diverse manifestations. In some cases, parts of the fruit differ (heteroarthrocarpy), as is observed in many species with two-membered fruits; in other cases, the entire fruit differs. Heterocarpy provides combined methods of propagation, as well as more reliable preservation of seeds and the possibility of their germination under changing conditions.
No less interesting in cruciferous plants is another type of heterocarpy - amphicarpy. In this case, along with the usual dehiscent pods of the apical inflorescence, basal cleistogamous flowers develop, which, burrowing into the ground, form numerous single-seeded indehiscent pods (geocarpy). At the same time, in unfavorable years, above-ground inflorescences often do not reach fruiting, while underground fruits always ripen.

Economic importance Cruciferous vegetables are hard to overestimate. Vegetables, oilseeds, fodder and honey crops are the most widely known among them, but the main role belongs, of course, to cabbage in all its diversity. Cabbage has been cultivated since prehistoric times, and the first information about it dates back to the Neolithic. Many researchers, starting with Charles Darwin, believe that all currently existing cultivated forms of cabbage come from the wild form of cabbage ( Brassica oleracea), others - from wild cabbage considered as an independent species ( Brassica sylvestris), others associate them with a number of Mediterranean species. For several millennia, no plant has provided man with such extensive material for selection as cabbage. The most popular is cabbage, many forms and varieties of which are cultivated on all continents. Of these, cabbage is the main food plant in temperate latitude countries. The taste of varieties such as kohlrabi, cauliflower and its varieties of broccoli is undeniable. Many local varieties are especially preferred by the population of certain countries. Thus, one of the oldest cultivated plants cultivated in China and Japan is Chinese cabbage ( B. chinensis) and Chinese cabbage ( B. pekinensis).
Various varieties of radishes and radishes are also widely known as vegetable plants among cruciferous plants ( Raphanus sativus), as hot seasonings - horseradish (Armoracia rusticana) and Sarepta mustard ( Brassica juncea). One of the cultivated horticultural crops is watercress, grown on a large scale in the Caucasus. A number of wild cruciferous vegetables are also used as salad, such as rapeseed, or rapeseed , ordinary (Barbarea vulgaris), watercress ( Nasturtium officinale) and many others, and shepherd bagman, or shepherd's purse (Capsella bursa-pastoris ) has been bred as a vegetable in China for over 100 years. Young shoots and petioles of leaves of katran seaweed, or seaweed ( Crambe maritime), often eaten like asparagus.
A number of cultivated oilseed crops are of great economic importance. Of these, in temperate latitudes, the most productive oilseed plant is rapeseed, the seeds of which contain up to 50% oil. It has a purely technical application - it is used in hardening steels; after special treatment, it vulcanizes well, forming a rubber-like mass (factis), which is used to soften hard rubbers and make pencil erasers. Sarepta mustard oil has food applications, mainly in the confectionery and baking industries and in the production of margarine and canned food, and the powder (cake) is table mustard.
Valuable forage plants such as rutabaga ( Brassica napus var. napobrassica), turnips and turnips ( Brassica container), also belong to the cruciferous family. In addition, fodder cabbage, rapeseed and bee bread (a hybrid of rapeseed and fodder cabbage) are sown as green fodder.
Many cruciferous vegetables, due to their high content of vitamins, especially vitamin C, are widely used in folk medicine. Shepherd's purse, one of the popular plants in Tibetan and Chinese medicine, has a strong hemostatic effect. Many wild species are highly decorative, which deserves special attention. At the same time, among cruciferous crops there are also malicious weeds that require a special control regime.

Cruciferous (Latin: Cruciferae) or Cabbage (Latin: Brassicaceae). These include dicotyledonous free-petalled plants. Sometimes you can find shrubs and subshrubs, but most often they are herbs.
Plants of the cruciferous family most often grow in the Northern Hemisphere. In total there are more than three thousand species (approximately 350 genera).

Main features

Existing groups of plants that belong to the cruciferous family resemble each other in the structure of the flower and fruit. This herbaceous plant It is distinguished by the presence of a calyx, consisting of 4 sepals, a corolla with 4 placed crosswise, free petals. In addition, there is one pistil and six stamens. The leaves are whole or dissected, simple, without stipules. The size of the upper and lower leaves is almost always different. Various plant organs, including leaves, are often distinguished by the presence of glandular hairs.
Most often you can find a herbaceous plant of the cruciferous family, since most of the representatives of this family are herbaceous.
Most of these plants have elements with a pungent taste and persistent odor.
List of such plants: radish, horseradish, mustard.
There are also those that contain: sulfur, oils, vitamins. This is cabbage and others.
Despite the fact that among them there are medicinal plants, as well as vegetable, spicy, oilseed, ornamental and melliferous plants, there are also weeds.
The most famous genera of this family: Cabbage, Wasabi, Mustard, Radish, Ikotnik, Zheltushnik, Rizhik, Levkoy, Goldgrass, Zherukha, Katran, Lunnik, Shepherd's purse.

Plants of the cruciferous family have small or even small flowers. The flowers form an inflorescence raceme. The brushes go into the main stem, as well as into the branches. The flowers are most often white and yellow, in some cases pink and other shades. There are six stamens in total - four elongated and two short. An ovary with two nests, each of which contains ovules located at the seams.
The fruit is a short pod or an elongated pod. There are no stipules, and the leaves are placed alternately. When the fruit ripens, the valves are destroyed, it bursts at the seams, but the frame is preserved. The seeds have a crooked, oily embryo and no protein.
Cruciferous vegetables contain varying degrees of caustic juices and a lot of sulfur. And when they rot, an unpleasant smell of hydrogen sulfide appears.

Among cruciferous vegetables there are also those that have healing properties.
Such a plant is. First of all, most people remember mustard plasters, which are known to everyone as an excellent remedy for gout, sciatica and rheumatism. Mustard alcohol is also used for dislocations, sprains, muscle pain, and rheumatism. In addition, they are also prescribed for bronchial catarrh.
Mustard plasters for children add 20% pork fat.
In addition, mustard is also a popular seasoning. It allows you to digest fatty foods and has a positive effect on digestion.
Available in hot, hot, mild or sweet mustard.

Another plant with beneficial properties is . It is recommended to use it in the spring as a medicinal product that cleanses the blood. In addition, it is recommended to use it for diseases of the biliary system and liver. For diabetes, it is recommended to drink this herb as tea.

One of the most famous plants of the cruciferous family is (Brassica oleracea). She is two years old. In the first year of development, a stem and leaves appear. Then you need to plant the cabbage heads to get the seeds. Stems grow up to 60-120 cm.
The lower leaves are lyre-shaped and petiolate. The upper ones are oblong, sessile, toothed. The leaves are covered with a waxy coating. The flowers are light yellow in color, in sparse elongated racemes. Erect sepals and stamens. The pods are knotty, erect, elongated. The seeds are smooth, brownish in color, and spherical in shape. Cabbage is divided into the most different varieties and varieties that have many dissimilar traits.

Turnip is both a forage plant (fodder turnip, turnip) and a vegetable biennial plant.

Rutabaga is a vegetable and forage biennial plant with a wrinkled root surface.

Rapeseed has a thin root and is an annual plant. The seeds contain a large amount of fatty oil. There are winter and spring varieties. It is a close relative of rutabaga and can also grow as a weed.

The vegetable garden is cultivated both as radish and radish. This is a popular vegetable plant.

Nut-bearing cruciferous vegetables include, for example. It can often be seen in fallow fields, near roads. It is a large biennial plant with a spear-shaped base, a triangular upper lobe and a branched stem. The flowers are honey-bearing, yellow. The fruits are spherical, bilocular and with two seeds.