Portuguese perennial kale: a relic leafy vegetable crop

Abstract

Portuguese perennial kale is a rare leafy vegetable and forage crop in Portugal. It may be a relic of a primitive kale form which could have been grown on a large scale in Portugal and in West Europe. This kale has strong branching habit with rosettes of leaves in the stems. It shows a strongly reduced flowering ability and for this reason is vegetatively propagated. In the past, perennial kale has probably been widely distributed in West Europe, but the crop has gradually declined in occurrence in this area. At present it is an almost extinct vegetable crop and by this reason deserves to be preserved.