Chinese cabbage
Brassica rapa Pekinensis Group · Cabbage family
Plant portrait
Napa-type Chinese cabbage gathers veined leaves into an elongated head.
Harvested part
The leaves and their broad ribs.
What to watch for
Watch central leaves draw together; other Asian cabbage types have an open habit.
Growth stages of the Chinese cabbage
Plotilo illustrates the Chinese cabbage in 5 stages in 3D: seed, small sprout, young plant, growing and harvest. The models show typical shapes; they do not predict how long growth takes.
- Seed
Starting from a seed. It is shown on the surface to make it visible in this illustration.
- Small sprout
A short first stem and its first small leaves emerge.
- Young plant
The young plant carries more leaves and starts to take its own shape.
- Growing
Leaves and stems develop. Their shape depends on the species.
- Harvest
An illustration of the harvested part. Roots are made visible for clarity; this image does not confirm actual maturity.
Same botanical family
Same botanical family as the Chinese cabbage (the cabbage family): the radish, the broccoli, the cauliflower, the cabbage, the turnip, the Brussels sprout and 8 more plants from the catalogue. Gardeners usually avoid growing the same family in the same spot several years in a row: that is the idea behind crop rotation.
- Radish Raphanus sativus
- Broccoli Brassica oleracea Italica Group
- Cauliflower Brassica oleracea Botrytis Group
- Cabbage Brassica oleracea Capitata Group
- Turnip Brassica rapa Rapifera Group
- Brussels sprout Brassica oleracea Gemmifera Group
- Kale Brassica oleracea Acephala Group
- Garden cress Lepidium sativum
- Land cress Barbarea verna
- Mustard greens Brassica juncea
- Winter radish Raphanus sativus
- Horseradish Armoracia rusticana
- Rocket Eruca vesicaria subsp. sativa
- Perennial rocket Diplotaxis tenuifolia