Cruciferous leaves are arranged alternately on the stem or collected in a basal rosette. The root system is pivotal. Some plants produce roots.

Cruciferous tissues contain special essential oils, which give them a specific cabbage-and-raspberry taste. Hence the second name of plants of this class - Cabbage.

Flower

All cruciferous plants have a similar flower structure: 4 sepals, 4 petals arranged crosswise, 6 stamens (4 long and 2 short) and 1 pistil. The cross-shaped arrangement of the parts of the calyx and corolla gave the name to this family - Cruciferous. The structure of a cruciferous flower can be expressed as the formula H 4 L 4 T 4 + 2 P 1. The petals of the corolla are yellow or white. Less common are species with purple or pink flowers, such as gillyflower and noctule.

Small cruciferous flowers are collected in a raceme inflorescence, which is clearly visible to insects.

Fruit

Cruciferous fruits are pods or pods (short pods). The seeds in the fruits are located not on the valves, but on the membranous partition. Cruciferous plants have a variety of adaptations for seed dispersal. Fruits with lionfish are carried by the wind over long distances. Some species have outgrowths on the fruits - hooks that cling to animal fur. There are plants, for example, rough core, in which scattering of seeds occurs.

Wild cruciferous vegetables

Common cress And wild radish grow in open places in fields and meadows. Their yellow flowers contain a lot of nectar, which attracts insects. In fields, these species are weeds and compete with cultivated plants. Among the cruciferous plants there are other weeds: field grass, medicinal reveler, shepherd's purse.

Many wild cruciferous plants are not only good honey plants, but also valuable medicinal plants. For example, shepherd's purse has a hemostatic effect, jaundice And core contain substances that are part of heart drops.

Some wild species of the family have become rare and need protection. About 20 species are listed in the Red Book of Russia, for example the core is purple, fragrant leftover.Material from the site

Cultivated cruciferous vegetables

Among the cruciferous plants there are many valuable vegetable plants - these are cabbage, turnip, radish, radish. Swede And turnip— fodder crops, their root crops are rich in vitamins. Used to prepare spicy seasonings horseradish, mustard. From seeds colzas, rapeseed,saffron milk cap obtain valuable oils. The fastest ripening vegetable, producing fresh greens rich in vitamins and microelements 20-25 days after sowing - watercress. Some cruciferous plants are used as ornamental flowers, for example lefty, alyssum, evening party.

European turnip - This is a biennial plant of the Cabbage genus. Turnip roots are a valuable food product. Long before cabbage and potatoes were used, it was consumed fresh, steamed, or baked in Rus'. Now turnips have been undeservedly forgotten and are almost never used in Russian cuisine.

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Cruciferous plants are one of the most easily recognized families of the Dicotyledonous class. They got their name from the shape of the flower, in which 4 petals and 4 sepals are arranged crosswise. The type of fruit and flower are constant for all 3200 species that make up the family list.

What characteristics are characteristic of plants of the Cruciferous family?

Life forms

Most representatives of cruciferous plants are perennial and annual herbs. Several species are shrubs and subshrubs.

Flower

A flower always has 4 petals and 4 sepals. Most cruciferous plants bloom with yellow or white flowers, but pink, red, and dark brown petals are also found. Flower formula Ch4 L4 T4+2 P1.

Rice. 1. Diagram and formula of a cruciferous flower.

The flower has 4 long and 2 short stamens and 1 pistil.

The flowers are collected in a raceme inflorescence.

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Fruit type

All representatives of the Cruciferous family are characterized by fruits:

• pod;
• pod.

The pod is at least 4 times as long as it is wide.

In pods - no more than 3 - 4 times.

Rice. 2. Cruciferous fruits pod and pod.

The variety of fruits is manifested in the number of seeds and the nature of the opening of the fruit. Many pods open with two valves. Some fruits of the family do not open, but disintegrate into segments. Single-seeded fruits are also found.

Seeds without endosperm.

The leaves of cruciferous plants are usually collected in a rosette.

Spreading

3200 species of cruciferous plants are grouped into 350 genera. Distributed in non-tropical regions of America and Eurasia. Especially many species are found in the Andes, Central Asia and the Mediterranean.

Economic importance

The most important cruciferous vegetables on the farm are:

• cabbage;
• radish;
• radish;
• turnip;
• turnip;
• swede.

In many European countries, cabbage ranks first among vegetables in terms of area planted. Very popular in the national cuisines of many nations. There are many forms and varieties of cabbage. The most common:

• white cabbage, or garden;
• Beijing;
• colored;
• Savoy;
• kohlrabi.

Cabbage was already highly valued in ancient civilizations - Egypt, Rome, Greece. The great Pythagoras was involved in its selection. According to Roman mythology, cabbage is drops of sweat that fell from the head of the god Jupiter.

In Japan, the most popular cruciferous vegetable is daikon. This is one of the subspecies of radish.

Turnip is a valuable forage plant. Nowadays, varieties have appeared that are used in human nutrition.

Most vegetables use a root vegetable. The head of cabbage is a giant apical bud.

Due to the high fat content in the seeds, camelina and rapeseed are used to obtain oil.

In pre-revolutionary Russia, camelina oil was very popular. It is useful and has a good effect on the growth of the child. After the spread, sunflower became rare.

Mustard and horseradish are popular seasonings. They improve digestion, so they are good to eat with heavy foods (meat).

There are many weeds among cruciferous plants:

• shepherd's purse;
• field grass;
• Descuraynia;
• reveler;
• rapeseed and others.

Rice. 3. Wild plants of the cruciferous family.

There are also many medicinal plants in this family. This:

• medicinal reveler;
• jaundice;
• shepherd's purse;
• Ikotnik and others.

Some of these plants are toxic, while others are edible. So, shepherd's purse is added to soups and borscht.

Vegetables are also famous for their healing properties. Cabbage juice is used in folk medicine. It heals wounds and ulcers and is used to treat diseases of internal organs.

For many diseases, horseradish root and black radish are used.

Examples of ornamental cruciferous plants are:

• Levka (matthiola);
• evening;
• lacfiol.

What have we learned?

While studying this topic in 7th grade, we gave a general description of the cruciferous family. The main characteristics by which the plant belongs to this family are the fruit pod, or pod, and a flower with cross-shaped petals and sepals. There are many weeds among cruciferous plants. Some representatives are vegetable, medicinal, oilseed and ornamental crops.

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The Brassicaceae or Brassica family consists of 372 genera and about 4,000 species. Representatives are annual and biennial herbaceous plants; the only shrub is Tatarian katran (tumbleweed). All plants have the same flower structure: the petals are arranged crosswise. Inflorescences are racemose.

Wild cruciferous vegetables

Field jar, wild radish, shepherd's purse, and common cress grow in the wild and are good honey plants.

Shepherd's purse has medicinal properties. It has a hemostatic, astringent, choleretic, antipyretic effect, dilates blood vessels, stimulates the intestines.

Economic importance

• Turpens is a feed crop for livestock.
• Turnips, radishes, radishes, rutabaga, and cabbage are grown for food purposes.
• Maslenitsa are mustard and rapeseed.
• Spicy flavor: horseradish, wasabi, Sarep mustard.

Cruciferous plants in landscape design

Popular ornamental cruciferous plants are:

• Levka (matthiola): easy to care for, valued for its fragrant aroma, similar to violet, especially fragrant at night. They are an annual plant. It is good in the foreground and background of flower beds, ridges, and for framing paths. For landscaping loggias and balconies, it is grown in flowerpots. Tall varieties are cut to make bouquets - they are fragrant for a whole week.
• (vechernitsa): looks like phlox, just like mattiola smells fragrant at night. Biennial unpretentious plant.
• Moonflower: annual and perennial plant. It has interesting fruits: round or oval pods are almost transparent.

Family Cruciferous or Brassicas

2019/02/27

The earliest vegetable in the garden is radish. While other crops are going through the seedling stage, gardeners are already harvesting the first harvests of this root crop. The value of radishes is determined not only by their early ripening, but also by their unpretentiousness to the soil, ease of care,...

2018/12/17

Botanical description Oilseed radish or seed radish (Raphanus sativus) is an annual or perennial herbaceous plant of the Brassicaceae (Cruciferous) family. It is universal: an excellent honey plant, fodder crop, green manure (green fertilizer for the soil). Its seeds contain about 50% plant...

2018/08/29

Lakfiol or cheiranthus, jaundice, wallflower (Cheiranthus) is a one- or biennial herbaceous flowering plant of the Cruciferous family. It was once very popular, but is now undeservedly forgotten. Lakfiol can become a bright decoration of a flower bed, it will delight you with the cheerful shade of inflorescences, mainly warm yellow...

2018/08/27

Botanical description Lunaria or lunaria (lat. Lunaria) is a genus of annual and perennial herbaceous plants of the Cruciferous (Cabbage) family. The scientific name comes from the word “luna”, which literally means this celestial body, a satellite of the Earth. Source...

2018/06/07

Watercress or bedbug (lat. Lepidium sativum) is an edible one- and biennial plant of the Brassica family. Originally from Iran, found in Africa and Asia. Cultural cultivation of watercress began in Ancient Rome, Egypt and Greece. It has a pleasant bitter-tart taste (similar to...

2018/04/20

Aubrieta (lat. Aubrieta) is a perennial herbaceous plant of the Brassica family. The name is given in honor of Claude Aubrier, a French artist who worked in the style of botanical illustration. The plant can also be found under the name aubretia, popularly known as windbag...

2018/03/04

Cabbage is a popular vegetable with a rich range of nutrients. The culture is hypoallergenic, contains many vitamins (A, C, E of group B and PP), lutein and zeoxanthin (compounds that improve vision, they protect the retina from damage by free radicals,...

2018/02/28

Kale cabbage (grunkol, brownkol, kale, curly cabbage, kale) - this type of cabbage does not form a head, produces a crop in the form of curly leaves of green, bluish-green, dark red or purple. It is often confused with lettuce leaves. How…

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Ornamental cabbage (in Latin called Brassica oleracea var. acephala) begins its beauty parade in the fall and is decorative until the onset of cold weather (it can withstand short-term frosts down to -10 ° C). It amazes with its variety of sizes (height 20-130 cm), shapes (solid, dissected,…

2018/01/21

Iberis (Iberis) or Iberian is a plant belonging to the Cruciferous (Cabbage) family. These can be herbaceous or semi-shrub annual and perennial crops, heat-loving or winter-hardy. In the natural environment, Iberis grows in the mountainous regions of Southern Europe, Asia Minor,…

2018/01/21

Matthiola or gillyflower, night violet, evening scent is a flowering herbaceous plant belonging to the Cruciferous family. Homeland - Mediterranean. It is modest in appearance, but is valued for its incredible aroma of flowers. As the summer evening approaches, the flowers bloom...

2017/06/08

Not everyone knows what the night violet is called. The name night violet is not only given to the flower matron's night violet; matthiola, and even certain varieties of viola, are also called that. We will focus our attention on the matron’s hesperis, according to...

General information about cruciferous vegetables

Cruciferous (lat. Cruciferae) or Cabbage (lat. Brassicaceae), a family of free-petalled dicotyledonous plants. Herbs, less often subshrubs and shrubs. Over 3 thousand species (about 350 genera), mainly in the Northern Hemisphere. Cruciferous plants include vegetables (cabbage, radish), oilseeds (colza, rapeseed) and weeds (shepherd's purse, springberry), as well as melliferous, medicinal, dyeing and ornamental plants. Horseradish (Armoracia), a genus of perennial plants of the cruciferous (cabbage) family. Three species, in Europe, the Caucasus and Siberia.

Horseradish, or country horseradish (A. rusticana), is a vegetable crop. The plant is 50-150 cm high, with a fleshy white rhizome (“root”) and large leaves. The flowers are white, small, collected in a racemose inflorescence. Cultivated as an annual and biennial plant in Western Europe, Asia and America. In Russia - since the 16th century everywhere. The leaves and roots are rich in vitamin C and mustard essential oil, which gives horseradish its pungent taste. Horseradish roots secrete phytoncides. The roots are grated and used as a spicy seasoning. In folk medicine, horseradish is an antiscorbutic and anti-cold remedy. The gruel from the roots is used for rubbing for radiculitis, and the water infusion is used for gargling for sore throat. Due to its diuretic effect, it is used for dropsy and gout. The leaves are a spice for pickling cucumbers, tomatoes, and mushrooms. Rapeseed is an annual herbaceous plant of the cabbage genus of the cruciferous family. Winter and spring (colza). They are grown in India, China, Canada, etc. to obtain edible and technical oil (33-50% in seeds), for feed to farm animals. Honey plant. Gray jaundice Erysimum canescens L. is a herbaceous biennial plant 30-50 cm high, with branched stems. The leaves are alternate, narrow, linear-lanceolate.

Botanical description. Cruciferous plants are annual and perennial herbs, rarely subshrubs or shrubs. Most leaves are arranged alternately and have no stipules. All parts of the majority are covered with hairs, between which stellate and bifurcated are especially characteristic; on the same plant there are often hairs of several forms. Since they are filled with air, they give the entire plant, if there are many of them, a gray appearance. The flowers are small or even small, collected in clusters ending both the main stem and the branches. At first, these brushes often look like corimbas. The number of sepals and petals is 4. In rare cases, petals do not grow. The colors are yellow and white, less often pink or other colors. There are 6 stamens, of which 2 are short and 4 are long, arranged in pairs. The gynoecium consists of two fused carpels and is entire. The ovary is two-lobed, containing ovules in each nest, located at the seams. The fruit is in the form of a pod or pod, depending on size. When ripe, it bursts at the seams, its flaps fall off, but what remains is a frame formed by the seams and a thin partition stretched over this frame. Seeds in varying numbers sit along the seams on both sides of the frame. They are without protein and have a crooked, oily embryo. Their peel is quite thick and becomes sticky when wetted in water. Cruciferous fruits are most susceptible to deviations and changes, although these changes do not affect the main essential feature of the fruit, which is that it is 2-locular, that its seeds are located at the seams, and that the seeds themselves are without protein and have a crooked embryo. Cruciferous vegetables contain more or less caustic juices and a significant amount of sulfur. Therefore, when they rot, they release hydrogen sulfide, which produces an unpleasant odor. Many of them, such as gillyflowers and wallflowers, are known in gardening, and many are important garden plants that provide abundant and healthy food.
The main genera of the cruciferous family:
Wasabi
Mustard (Sinapis)
Jaundice (Erysimum)
Zherukha (Nasturtium)
Goldweed (Chrysochamela)
Ikotnik (Berteroa)
Katran (Crambe)
Cabbage (Brassica)
Levkoy (Matthiola)
Lunaria
Radish (Raphanus)
Ryzhik (Camelina)
Shepherd's Purse (Capsella)
Horseradish (Armoracia)

Healing properties and use in folk medicine. Mustard. The popularity of mustard in folk medicine is very high. In first place are mustard plasters - for rheumatism, sciatica and gout. Then comes mustard alcohol for rubbing in for muscle pain, sprains, sprains and, of course, rheumatism. Mustard compresses are also very popular for bronchial catarrh. For children, they are made a little softer by adding about 20% pork fat to the mustard pulp. Use as a seasoning. There is a well-known saying: “The one who doesn’t know how to use spices grabs the mustard.” They used to think so, but today they think differently. New research has shown that mustard is one of the most health-promoting spices. It perfectly promotes digestion, helps to absorb fatty foods, which do not sit in the stomach “like lead”, but are very quickly processed by it and then finally digested in the intestines. In older people, mustard, by stimulating digestion, significantly improves metabolism. Mustard improves health. When small children have no appetite, they often grab mustard. There is no need to stop them. They instinctively choose what will help them. Edible mustard is produced according to various recipes (soft, sweet, hot, hot) from mustard seeds, which must undergo enzymatic degradation to form mustard-oil allyl.
Shepherd's purse is recommended as a blood purifier for spring treatment. Together with horsetail herb, this tea is given for coughs, rheumatism and gout. Traditional medicine uses shepherd's purse for diseases of the liver and biliary system. As an external rinse and rinse, it has gained a strong position as a remedy against oral infections and for the treatment of poorly healing wounds. Traditional medicine recommends using shepherd's purse herb in the form of tea and for diabetes.

All angiosperms (flowering) plants are divided into monocots and dicotyledons. The first class includes families such as lilies, onions, cereals, orchids, palms, aroids, and sedges. The second includes all the others, for example, Rosaceae, magnolia, pumpkin, walnut, birch and so on. Plants belonging to each of the mentioned classes have individual features in their structure.

Place of cruciferous vegetables in the classification of living beings

All representatives of the cabbage family have the following position in the classification of living organisms:

Also, this family, in turn, is divided into genera. The name of the genus to which a species belongs can often be learned from the name of the latter. For example, white cabbage belongs to the cabbage genus (rape is also included in this group), field mustard belongs to the Mustard genus, etc.

Main features of plants of the cruciferous family

These plants are also called cabbage plants. This family has a total of about three thousand species. This includes plants such as hearts, turnips, mustard, lettuce, horseradish and other vegetables and herbs, as well as many weeds (for example, shepherd's purse), some of which are very difficult to eradicate. The life form of representatives of this group varies from herbs to shrubs or subshrubs. The main features of cruciferous plants are that they all have a flower, which contains four sepals, four petals, six stamens and one pistil. The cabbage fruit is represented by a pod (less commonly, a pod or nut); they can vary in size and shape. Their seeds are rich in oils and are distributed mainly by wind. Cruciferous plants with fruit in the form of a pod include shepherd's purse, field grass and others; those with nuts include dye woad and eastern sverbiga. Cruciferous plants, like all other dicotyledons, have leaves with a network type of venation. The root system is taproot, that is, there is a pronounced main root and secondary roots growing from it. The flowers are usually collected in a raceme.

Ornamental cruciferous plants

Lefty can be included in this group. has large flowers of various colors, collected in lush inflorescences, about 50 cm high. They are grown both in flowerpots and in open ground. This also includes wallflower, which can often be found in the garden. In addition, there are some with colored leaves, which are sometimes grown for ornamental purposes.

Poisonous plants of the cabbage family

Few people know which cruciferous plants are considered poisonous. These include the same wallflower. This plant has narrow, long leaves and large, rich yellow flowers, collected in racemes. Wallflower juice contains toxic substances such as glycosides. When they enter the body, they negatively affect the circulatory system, directly on the muscles of the heart.

Brassicas in industry and agriculture

The most famous, widespread and often used cruciferous plants in the rural industry are cabbage and cauliflower. They have a number of useful properties, in particular they contain rare vitamins U and K, and vitamins B and C are also present in large quantities. Another advantage of cabbage is the absence of sucrose and starch in it, so it can be considered a completely dietary product . It also contains many microelements, including magnesium, potassium, phosphorus, calcium, iron, etc. Cabbage, especially its juice, helps to effectively cleanse the body and improve the functioning of the liver and spleen (due to which, by the way, it is also found in turnips). Also among cruciferous vegetables there are turnips, kale, and rapeseed. All of them are saturated with microelements (phosphorus, sodium, calcium), vitamin B2, and contain a certain amount of proteins. Another forage cruciferous plant is rutabaga. In addition to the above substances, it is also rich in vitamin C, but contains fewer trace elements. For the same purposes, beebread is used - a hybrid of rapeseed.

Plants of the cruciferous family are also widely used in agriculture, such as rapeseed, whose seeds consist of fifty percent oils, and mustard. The oil of the first plant is used only for technical purposes, for example, when hardening steel. The second is in the food industry: in the production of canned food and margarine. In addition to cabbage, radishes and radishes are also often grown as vegetable crops; the same mustard and horseradish are used as seasonings. It is also worth remembering the beneficial properties of these plants. Radishes are rich in vitamins B, PP, C, calcium, iron, sodium, potassium, magnesium, phosphorus. In addition, it contains phytoncides. Horseradish contains such useful substances as vitamin C (it contains even more than lemon), PP, B, sodium, sulfur, potassium, phosphorus, iron; its leaves contain carotene. Radish is one of the healthiest vegetables; it is rich in vitamins PP, B, C, carotene, lysocine, and pantothenic acid.