Cauliflower
vegetable in the species Brassica oleracea commonly called cauliflower
Cauliflower (Brassica oleracea var. botrytis) is a vegetable belonging to the species Brassica oleracea in the family Brassicaceae (the mustard or cabbage family). It is one of several cultivated forms of the species along with cabbage, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, kale, kohlrabi, and others. The edible portion of the plant is its dense head of undeveloped flower buds known as the "curd". The head is usually white but may also be green, orange, or purple. Several cultivars exist, including the Romanesco variety, whose spiral curds grow in fractal patterns.
Cauliflower was domesticated in the Mediterranean region during antiquity, most likely by selective breeding of wild cabbage. It is grown worldwide as a cool-season crop and is widely used in cooking, where it may be eaten raw, steamed, roasted, or incorporated into other dishes. World cauliflower production (combined with broccoli) in 2024 was 27 million tonnes, led by China and India with 73% of the total.
Description
There are four major groups of cauliflower.
The public source identifies “Cauliflower” as vegetable in the species Brassica oleracea commonly called cauliflower. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Cauliflower, vegetable and species.
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Datasets, specimens, observations and peer-reviewed methods provide the appropriate test for the technical claims summarized here. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 19, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7537. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 2024.
A general summary may omit uncertainty, sample limits or methodological disagreement that is explicit in the technical record. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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This entry incorporates text from “Cauliflower” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.