Napa cabbage
subspecies of plant in the genus Brassica
Napa cabbage (Brassica rapa subsp. pekinensis, or Brassica rapa Pekinensis Group) is a type of Chinese cabbage originating near the Beijing region of China that is widely used in East Asian cuisine. Since the 20th century, it has also become a widespread crop in Europe, the Americas, and Australia. In much of the world, it is referred to as "Chinese cabbage".
Names
The word "napa" in the name napa cabbage comes from colloquial and regional Japanese, where nappa (菜っ葉) refers to the leaves of any vegetable, especially when used as food. The Japanese name for this specific variety of cabbage is hakusai (白菜), a Sino-Japanese reading of the Chinese name báicài (白菜), literally "white vegetable". The Korean name for napa cabbage, baechu (배추), is a nativized word from the Sino-Korean reading, baekchae, of the same Chinese character sets. Today in Mandarin Chinese, napa cabbage is known as dàbáicài (大白菜), literally "big white vegetable", as opposed to the "small white vegetable" that is known in English as bok choy.
Outside of Asia, this vegetable is also referred to as Chinese cabbage or sometimes celery cabbage. It is also known as siu choy in Western Canada (Cantonese 紹菜), wombok in Australia and wong bok or won bok in New Zealand, all corruptions of wong ngaa baak (Cantonese 黃芽白).
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Napa cabbage” is subspecies of plant in the genus Brassica. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Napa, cabbage and subspecies, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “subspecies of plant in the genus Brassica” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Stable identifiers, scientific names and standards terminology offer the best bridge between this overview and specialist evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 20, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q13360268. The Library of Congress control number is sh85024250. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank.
Scientific names, classifications and consensus can change while older terminology persists in catalogues and historical literature. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. 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 “Napa cabbage” 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.