KERGUELEN CABBAGE

(species Pringlea antiscorbutica), plant resembling the common cabbage and belonging to the same family (Brassicaceae). It was named for Kerguelen Island. The leaves of the plant contain a pale-yellow, highly pungent essential oil rich in ascorbic acid (vitamin C), for which reason it was a useful dietary supplement against scurvy. It was discovered by the British explorer Captain James Cook during his first voyage (1776), but the first account of it was published by the English botanist Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker upon his return from the Antarctic voyage of the Erebus and Terror in 183943. During the stay of the latter expedition on the island, daily use was made of this vegetable either cooked alone or boiled with the ship's beef, pork, or pea soup. Although belonging to a family of insect-pollinated plants, it has become modified for wind pollination, having projecting stamens (male parts) and long threadlike projections on the stigma (female part). This peculiarity is apparently in adaptation to the absence of winged insects on the island.