KERGUELEN'S LAND CABBAGE

kerguelen's land cabbage, in botany, _pringlea antiscorbutica_ (natural order cruciferae), a plant resembling in habit, and belonging to the same family as, the common cabbage (_brassica oleracea_). the cabbage-like heads of leaves abound in a pale yellow highly pungent essential oil, which gives the plant a peculiar flavour but renders it extremely wholesome. it was discovered by captain cook during his first voyage, but the first account of it was published by (sir) joseph hooker in _the botany of the antarctic voyage_ of the "erebus" and "terror" in 1839-1843. during the stay of the latter expedition on the island, daily use was made of this vegetable either cooked by itself or boiled with the ship's beef, pork or pea-soup. hooker observes of it, "this is perhaps the most interesting plant procured during the whole of the voyage performed in the antarctic sea, growing as it does upon an island the remotest of any from a continent, and yielding, besides this esculent, only seventeen other flowering plants."