A generic name for various edible plants of the genus Brassica; cole, colewort, the oldest and most venerable kind of cabbage, close cousin to the wild cabbagy plants which grow on the shores of the Mediterranean and Adriatic. They can be roughly divided into two types, curly-leaved, of which you can eat the leaves, and broad-leaved from which only the spring shoots should be taken and which do not form a compact head.
