Pringlea

Pringlea antiscorbutica, commonly known as Kerguelen cabbage, is a flowering plant and the sole member of the monotypic genus Pringlea in the family Brassicaceae. Its common name comes from the archipelago of its discovery, the Kerguelen Islands, and its generic name derives from Sir John Pringle, President of the Royal Society at the time of its discovery by Captain James Cook's Surgeon, William Anderson in 1776.

Pringlea
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Brassicales
Family: Brassicaceae
Genus: Pringlea
T.Anderson ex Hook.f.
Species:
P. antiscorbutica
Binomial name
Pringlea antiscorbutica

Distribution

The species grows on the remote Heard Island and McDonald Islands, Crozet, Prince Edward and Kerguelen Islands.[1] The ancestor of P. antiscorbutica probably migrated from South America some five million years ago.[2]

Kerguelen cabbages on Mayes island (Kerguelen Islands)

Ecology

The home islands of Kerguelen cabbage are at roughly 50° South Latitude and constantly buffeted by strong winds. This climatic feature is unfavorable for wind pollination, except on infrequent mild days, and this plus the absence of potential insect pollinators explains why the Kerguelen cabbage is self-pollinating.[1]

An old Kerguelen cabbage on the Péninsule Rallier du Baty, Kerguelen Island

The plants grow to a diameter of about 50 cm in around four years, and flower for the first time in their third or fourth year.[3] At the mature stage, this species exhibits several adaptations linked to cold tolerance such as high polyamine levels.[4][5]

Uses

The plant is edible, containing high levels of potassium. Its leaves contain a vitamin C-rich oil, a fact which, in the days of sailing ships, made it very attractive to sailors suffering from scurvy, hence the species name, which means "against scurvy" in Latin. It was essential to the diets of the whalers on Kerguelen when pork, beef, or seal meat was used up. In May 1840, botanist Joseph Dalton Hooker was the first to make a technical analysis of the plant, and to assign the Latin name.[6]

Hooker also reported having eaten some soup that had been made with Kerguelen cabbage, and described the raw leaves as tasting like cress, the boiled leaves as tasting like "stale" cabbage, and the root as tasting like horseradish.[7]

Conservation

The micropezid fly species Calycopteryx mosleyi is associated with this plant. Both are endangered by invasive rabbits which feed on the cabbage.

References
  1. Schermann-Legionnet, Agnes; Hennion, Françoise; Vernon, Philippe & Atlan, Anne (2007). "Breeding system of the subantarctic plant species Pringlea antiscorbutica R.Br. and search for potential insect pollinators in the Kerguelen Islands" (PDF). Polar Biology. 30 (9): 1183–1193. doi:10.1007/s00300-007-0275-1. Retrieved 2015-10-15.
  2. Bartish, I.V.; Ainoushe, A.; Jia, D.; Bergstrom, D.; Chown, S.L.; Winkworth, R.C. & Hennion, F. (2012). "Phylogeny and colonization history of Pringlea antiscorbutica (Brassicaceae), an emblematic endemic from the South Indian Ocean Province". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 65 (2): 748–756. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2012.07.023. PMID 22871399.
  3. Chapuis, J.-L.; Hennion, F.; Le Roux, V. & Le Cruziat, J. (2000). "Growth and reproduction of the endemic cruciferous species Pringlea antiscorbutica in Kerguelen Islands". Polar Biology. 23 (3): 196–204. doi:10.1007/s003000050027.
  4. Hummel, Irène; Couée, Ivan; El Amrani, Abdelhak; Martin‐Tanguy, Josette & Hennion, Françoise (2002). "Involvement of polyamines in root development at low temperature in the subantarctic cruciferous species Pringlea antiscorbutica". Journal of Experimental Botany. 53 (373): 1463–1473. doi:10.1093/jxb/53.373.1463.
  5. Hummel, Irène; Quemmerais, Frédéric; Gouesbet, Gwenola; El Amrani, Abdelhak; Frenot, Yves; Hennion, Françoise & Couée, Ivan (2004). "Characterization of environmental stress responses during early development of Pringlea antiscorbutica in the field at Kerguelen". New Phytologist. 162 (3): 705–715. doi:10.1111/j.1469-8137.2004.01062.x. JSTOR 1514567.
  6. Hooker, J.D. (1845). "Table XC-XCI". The botany of the Antarctic voyage of H.M. discovery ships Erebus and Terror in the Years 1839–1843: Under the command of Captain Sir James Clark Ross. 1. p. 239 – via BioDiversityLibrary.org.
  7. In Pursuit of Plants. pp. 297–299.
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