Is it a broccoli? Is it a cauliflower? Or is it simply, ‘Romanesco’?
This is another repeat entry, with this taxon first being featured on Botany Photo of the Day in 2006: Brassica oleracea Botrytis Group ‘Romanesco’. The question as to whether it was a broccoli or cauliflower was alluded to then as well–and surprisingly, the resource I recommended at the time still survives today: Fractal Food, including The Unclassifiable Romanesco.
Other resources have emerged online in the intervening years, though. These include:
- ‘Romanesco’, from the University of Wisconsin Master Gardener Program, features gardening and cooking tips
- Romanesco Broccoli and Fractals via the Earth Science Picture of the Day
- Fibonacci Numbers and Nature
I took this photograph today in UBC Botanical Garden’s Food Garden, after being shown the plant by the area’s horticulturist. Here is a similar photo, but in black-and-white:
Beautiful! And painting those fractals was both a fun and maddening challenge when I did this watercolor study of a Romanesco. Needless to say, by the time I finished painting, it was no longer fit for eating,v so I had to purchase another to see how it tasted.
Love!!!!
Excellent work.
Well done to you both! I have tried and failed many times to grow Romanesco in my winter garden here in California. Nothing I have grown has been so visually compelling (but it was tasty).
Fascinating plants! Like weird science fiction, but real and even edible. Great photos and info. And Jane, your painting is truly gorgeous!
Oh so tasty and easily grown here on PEI. One can get lost staring at the endless pattern.
The photos show the pattern beautifully, and what a charming painting Jane did – love the colors, and the way the leaves encircle the head. I have yet to try it –
Just a week ago, some of the comments on a clue in a Guardian cryptic crossword went into detail about fractals with several interesting links that led to photos of ‘Romanesco’. Is it just a coincidence that this post appeared soon after, or is there a fellow solver at UBC? (The answer to the clue, by the way, was “Mandelbrot Set.”)
Ha! But, no. I do like a good crossword, but it is just a coincidence!
Amazing photo.
I believe this plant was on a dinner table scene in one of the Star Wars movies, makes a very good “alien” looking food. I too have tried to grow it, very challenging, and needs a cooler climate than mine.
Damn… now I’m going to have to see them all again to find it? I guess that can’t be all that bad.