What vegetable makes a walking stick?

By Chelsie Vandaveer

October 30, 2003

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When John Gerard wrote The Herbal in 1597, he mentioned that Theophrastus (4^th century BCE) and Pliny the Elder (1^st century AD) recognized three "coleworts". By Gerard's time, gardeners had created many more. He recognized fifteen Brassica: the "wilde", the "loved coleworts" (cabbages), "open coles" (kales and collards), "curled savoys" (apparently broccoli types), and "colie floures". One of the odder types, the "parsley colewort", he described as having "very large leaves deepely jagged even to the middle rib...resembling great and rank parsley [with] a great thicke stalke of three cubits (1.5 meters or 4.5 to 5 feet) high...." (The Herbal,
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John Gerard, 1633 edition)

Kales and collards (Brassica oleracea var. acephala) have loose leaves, leaves that do not curl tightly over each other like cabbages. Ornamental kales are grown for their tight rosettes of colorful and frequently ruffled or jagged leaves. The plants are used like bedding plants to keep color in the garden where winters are mild. Vegetable kales and collards are grown for eating (pot herbs). Collards generally have deep green entire leaves (no ruffles or jagged edges) and the stems elongate slightly. (Hortus Third, Liberty Hyde Bailey Hortorium, Cornell University, 1976)

There are no clear definitions between collards and kales or even cabbages. Over the centuries, thousands of gardeners selected plants with traits either useful or that simply tickled their fancies. One of the most unique, the Jersey cabbage, comes from the British Channel Islands. (See Weird Plants, October 23, 2003)

The Jersey cabbage belongs to the Acephala Group. It has leaves like collards which can be removed and cooked. But it certainly has some of the genes from Gerard's "parsley colewort". The stem grows to two meters (over 6 feet). If left in the garden for a second season, it may grow to three meters. When mature the stems become woody. These are cut, sanded or carved, and varnished for "walking sticks". (Source: Thompson and Morgan Seedsmen, Inc. Catalog, 2004)

The College of Agriculture, University of Kentucky has an article about Roger Postley who grows heirloom vegetables and a photograph of a young Jersey cabbage (walking stick kale). To view the article and photograph, click on the link:

http://www.ca.uky.edu/agc/news/2002/Aug/post.htm

Tom Clothier's Garden Walk and Talk website has great information if you wish to make walking sticks from Jersey cabbage. To learn how to grow and prepare the walking stick, click on the link:

http://tomclothier.hort.net/page32.html

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