The centuries-old everyday experience of the peoples who once inhabited and now inhabit our planet, and especially those who have long given preference to agriculture, tells us about the widespread and almost universal use of plants for food. And vegetable crops have occupied and continue to play the most important role in the human diet. It is simply impossible to imagine our life without vegetables today. Cabbage and carrots, potatoes and tomatoes, cucumbers and eggplants, onions, zucchini and beets, abundance fragrant greens: parsley, basil, cilantro, dill - can I cook it today? delicious dish without these ingredients? And about dietary nutrition without vegetables it would be completely forgettable!
In modern thinking, vegetables are usually called edible part(fruit, root or tuber) of some plants, as well as other solid plant foods, with the exception of fruits, cereals, mushrooms and nuts.
All vegetable crops can be divided into several large groups, among which the most famous are: legumes, green crops, cabbage crops, root and tuber crops, bulbous crops, nightshade crops, pumpkin crops, spicy-flavoring crops.
Our ancient ancestors, having no idea about vitamins and, especially, about chemical composition plants, many vegetables were used not only for food purposes, but also for the prevention and treatment of many diseases. Almost all vegetables, like fruits and berries, are the most important suppliers of vitamins, as well as a host of other components beneficial to human health - mineral salts, organic acids, fat and essential oils, tannins, phytoncides, fiber, etc.
Despite the presence in our stores there are quite large selection vegetables that are familiar to residents middle zone, and various “overseas” exotic vegetables, there are more and more people striving to grow vegetables on their plots. And the opinion that vegetables grown on own garden, much tastier than vegetables, bought in a store, it seems, is far from a figment of the imagination.
In addition, many varieties of vegetables can be easily grown on a balcony or terrace, or even just on a windowsill, because some representatives vegetable crops They come from southern countries with a mild climate. Often tomatoes grown in a tub give more bountiful harvest than those grown in the garden. Fragrant basil and lavender grow much better in a pot than in a garden bed. And the nimble tendrils of beans tied to the lattice on your balcony are not only a future vegetable delicacy, but also protection from the sun and decoration of your home!
Path to high yields vegetables grown with your own hands will not be so long and difficult if you walk along it with us, because on the pages of our encyclopedia you can find qualified answers to any questions you may have: choosing a variety; preparation and sowing of seeds for seedlings and open ground; planting care; watering and fertilizing plants; protection from diseases and pests; harvesting and storage; culinary recipes tasty and healthy vegetable dishes and preparations for the winter.
Vegetables are an extremely capacious concept that has very vague, fuzzy boundaries.
The most acceptable definition of vegetables was given by Professor V.I. Edelstein, who called vegetables " herbaceous plants, cultivated for their succulent parts, used for human consumption."
Such plants, which the population of our planet uses as vegetables, include more than 1,200 species around the world, of which the most widespread are 690 species belonging to 9 botanical families.
Distribution of these types of vegetables in cultivation in different parts and countries globe unevenly. So, for example, greatest number types of vegetable crops are used by humans in Asia, which is facilitated by the richness of its flora and favorable climate: about 100 types of vegetables are widely grown in Japan, about 80 in China, more than 60 in India, and about 50 species in Korea.
On the vast territory of our country, according to various sources, up to 40 types of vegetable crops are grown, 23 of which are widespread, these are: white cabbage, Chinese cabbage, cauliflower, beets, turnips, rutabaga, carrots, radishes, radish, cucumber, pumpkin, zucchini , watermelon, melon, tomato, pepper, eggplant, onion, garlic, celery, parsley, dill, lettuce. Other types of vegetables are also present, but are not so widely cultivated.
Each vegetable crop has its own individual biological characteristics and is characterized by special requirements for conditions environment and methods of cultivation, differs in the way of eating. At the same time vegetable plants have a number of common characteristics that allow them to be combined into separate groups. Based on a combination of biological and economic characteristics, it is possible to classify vegetable crops.
A variety of plant parts are used for food; Based on the use of one or another part, vegetable plants are divided into the following groups.
* Fruit(tomato, cucumber, eggplant, pepper, zucchini, squash, zucchini, crookneck, pumpkin, watermelon, melon, artichoke, physalis, peas, beans, beans, soybeans, sweet corn, etc.).
* Root and tuber crops(carrots, rutabaga, red beets, radishes, radishes, turnips, tuberous celery, root parsley, sweet potatoes, Jerusalem artichokes, oat root, parsnip, scorzonera, etc.).
* Onion(onions, shallots, leeks, leeks, sweet onions, multi-tiered onions, spring onions, chives, wild onions, garlic).
* Leafy, including cabbage(white cabbage, red cabbage, Chinese cabbage, leaf cabbage, Savoy cabbage, Brussels sprouts, Beijing cabbage, kohlrabi, cauliflower, broccoli).
* Green(types of lettuce, endive salad(witloof, endive), escarole, spinach, sorrel, rhubarb, purslane, asparagus, amaranth, watercress, watercress, quinoa, mustard greens, chard, borage, dandelion, asparagus, dill).
* Spicy flavor(anise, marjoram, basil, lovage, hyssop, snakehead, watercress, marjoram, tarragon, horseradish, katran, coriander, lemon balm, mint, sage, savory, caraway, thyme, rosemary, rue, nigella, fennel, etc.) .
However, such a division according to the parts of crops consumed as food is quite arbitrary and not entirely correct from a biological point of view; in addition, the huge variety of vegetable plants cannot be included in such a simple diagram. In some fruit and vegetable crops, ripe fruits are eaten (tomato, eggplant, pepper, pumpkin), in others - unripe fruits (zucchini, squash, cucumber, peas, beans). Leafy vegetable crops use various parts and organs of the plant, not just the leaves, as the name suggests. Thus, the overgrown buds of cabbage and Brussels sprouts, cabbage and endive lettuce (witloof) are eaten, while the unopened inflorescences of broccoli and cauliflower are eaten. The leaves themselves are used in Chinese and Savoy cabbage, lettuce, Swiss chard, sorrel, spinach and green onions, as well as a number of aromatic crops such as parsley, celery, dill, basil, tarragon, marjoram, lovage, watercress, leaf mustard, many of which, according to this classification, belong to another group of vegetable crops. In plants such as fennel, young beets, petiole celery, rhubarb, leaf petioles are used for food. U large group plants called root vegetables use overgrown roots, and kohlrabi cabbage uses an overgrown stem that looks like a root vegetable.
Young shoots and sprouts, for example, of asparagus and purslane, as well as various tuberous formations on the roots and rhizomes of plants such as Jerusalem artichoke, sweet potato, and stachys can also be used as vegetables. All this shows some imperfection in this division of vegetable crops into groups.
Another classification system for vegetable plants is based on their belonging to different botanical families. This classification systematizes the huge variety of vegetables and helps to navigate related crops, for example, when planning crop rotation, when crops of the same botanical family should not be grown sequentially on one piece of land. Thus, the group of root vegetables includes vegetable plants of three botanical families: umbelliferae, or celeriaceae (carrots, parsnips, parsley, celery), cruciferous, or cabbage (rutabaga, turnip, radish, radish), and chenoraceae (table beets).
Distribution of vegetable crops by botanical families
| Family | Culture |
| Cruciferous or cabbage vegetables | All types of cabbage (white, red, savoy, Peking, Brussels sprouts, kohlrabi, cauliflower, broccoli, fodder), rutabaga, turnip, radish, radish, turnip, horseradish, katran, watercress, mustard greens |
| Umbrella, or celery | Carrots, parsley, parsnips, celery, dill, cumin, coriander, anise, fennel |
| Solanaceae | Potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, eggplant |
| Lily, or onion | All types of onions, garlic |
| Legumes | Peas, beans, beans, soybeans |
| Pumpkin | Cucumber, zucchini, squash, zucchini, pumpkin, melon, watermelon |
| Asteraceae, or Compositae | All types of lettuce, chicory, artichoke, scorzonera, Jerusalem artichoke |
| Buckwheat | Rhubarb, sorrel |
| Chenopodiaceae, or quinoaidae | Beetroot, Swiss chard, spinach |
| Bluegrass | Corn |
| Purslanaceae | Purslane |
According to the duration of the life cycle, all vegetable plants are divided into annual, biennial and perennial.
* Annuals vegetable plants go through their life cycle from sowing seeds to forming new seeds in one year. Life processes annual plants are determined by three main periods: seed germination and the appearance of cotyledon leaves, increased growth of vegetative organs and green mass of plants, formation of reproductive organs until the plant fully matures. After the life cycle is fully realized, the plant dies. Annual vegetable crops include plants of the fruit group: tomato, cucumber, eggplant, pepper, zucchini, squash, zucchini, pumpkin, watermelon, melon, artichoke, as well as lettuce, spinach, mustard greens, watercress, dill, radishes, cauliflower and Chinese cabbage, broccoli, some spicy-flavoring crops.
* Biennial In the first year of life, vegetable plants form a rosette of leaves and vegetative productive organs, such as roots, tubers, heads of cabbage, and bulbs. The formation of fruits and seeds occurs only in the second year of plant life, when they form flowering shoots on which fruits and seeds develop until they are fully ripe. Life cycle biennial plants interrupted by a period of physiological rest upon the onset of unfavorable conditions for growth and development during maturation. During the period of such forced rest, a regrouping occurs nutrients, and with the onset of a new growing season, the plant spends its vital resources on the formation of fruits and seeds. Typically, biennial vegetable crops are grown to obtain their developed vegetative organs, which they form in the first year of life (root crops, heads of cabbage, bulbs), but if it is necessary to obtain seeds, the productive organs (mother cells) along with the roots are harvested in the fall and stored during the winter in storage , after which on next year in the spring they are planted in the soil. After the formation and complete ripening of fruits and seeds, the plants die off in the second year. Biennial vegetable crops include some plants from the group of root vegetables, such as carrots, beets, celery, parsley, as well as cabbage, Savoy and Brussels sprouts.
* Perennial Vegetable plants have a life cycle that extends over many years with an annual renewal of vegetative development. In the first year of life, plants are just beginning to develop; they form a developed root system And leaf rosette. The formation of productive organs and seeds begins in the second and third years of the plant’s life and continues, renewing, for several years. Just like in biennial plants, in perennial crops, with the onset of winter, a period of forced physiological dormancy begins with the rearrangement of nutrients inside the plant, which in the spring is replaced by a growing season. Perennial vegetable crops include horseradish, sorrel, rhubarb, asparagus, lovage, onion, chives and some others.
Rare vegetable plants
In addition to the commonly known and widespread vegetables, the world eats many little-known and even completely unknown plants.
Vegetables are widely used in Asia, Africa, South and Central America pumpkin family, many of which are widely known in our country. But among them there is also a strange vegetable called Vietnamese zucchini, or Indian cucumber, - lagenaria, Lage-naria is also called a dish pumpkin and a gourd and dishes are made from it, musical instruments, toys. The food consumed is the unripe fruits of the long-fruited variety of lagenaria, which taste like zucchini and are prepared according to similar recipes. In Southeast Asia, lagenaria fruits are used in dried form; for example, in Japan and China, tender, tasty noodles are prepared from it, which are stored dried.
In Vietnam, Laos, China, Japan, Indonesia, a plant of the pumpkin family is very popular - Benincasa, also called winter gourd and wax gourd. This vegetable received this name for its amazing ability to be stored until spring without loss of quality, thanks to the thick waxy coating on the peel. Seasonings, soups, candied fruits are prepared from benincasa, and young ovaries are pickled.
It is widespread in Central and South America chayote, or Mexican cucumber. This amazing perennial climbing plant produces not only an abundant harvest of zucchini-like fruits on its above-ground part, but also many underground tubers, which the plant forms in the 2-3rd year of the growing season. Aboveground fruits - "zucchini" - are not very large (no more than 20 cm in length), have pleasant taste tender pulp and are used raw for making salads and side dishes, and the underground tubers are cooked like potatoes.
In the countries of Southeast Asia, Africa and South America a plant completely unknown to us is widely cultivated - trichosanth of the pumpkin family, called snake cucumber for its intricately curved fruits, the young fruits of which are used fresh for food. In India, trichosanth is considered the main vegetable crop of the monsoon season.
Another plant of the pumpkin family that is little known to us grows in India. - momordica, or yellow cucumber. This plant received its second name for the bright yellow color of the ripe tuberculate fruit, which is similar in appearance to a cucumber. Unripe momordica fruits are used for canning; they are salted and pickled, after being soaked in salt water to remove their inherent bitterness.
In China and Japan grows a strange form of oriental cucumber melon, the fruits of which contain very little sugar and are therefore used as pickling cucumbers.
A completely unfamiliar pumpkin plant grows in Central America - Sicana, or sweet cucumber. This plant is unusual in that it is a cross between a zucchini and a melon. Only young unripe fruits of the sicana are used for food, since the ripe fruit acquires a strong perfumery smell, for which the sicana received its second name, and is used to flavor the home.
Cyclantera, or Peruvian cucumber, is also a popular vegetable plant in Central America. Numerous tender young shoots of cyclantera are used for food, like asparagus, lightly boiled, and the fruits, which resemble a small cucumber, are used to prepare spicy national seasonings.
Widely distributed on the islands of Central America Antillean cucumber. This plant has very unusual small fruits, completely covered with soft long outgrowths, like thin paws. The fruits of the Antillean cucumber are salted and pickled like ordinary cucumbers.
Widely used as a vegetable in India luffa, we are better known as a plant that produces a bath sponge. Young luffa ovaries are used for food, from which nutritious soups and various seasonings are prepared, which are considered a delicacy.
In Japan and China, they have been used as a vegetable since ancient times. various types chrysanthemums family Asteraceae, or Asteraceae. The leaves that are eaten are mainly the leaves, which quickly grow back on the plant after being torn off. They are blanched for a very short time and then added to salads or served as an independent side dish. Less commonly, shoots, soft stems and even flowers are used in the same way.
In Southeast Asia, such a plant as stakhis, or chistets, called Chinese artichokes. Its tender nodules, which grow like beads on the roots of the plant, are used for food.
A herbaceous plant widespread in the countries of Oceania, Japan and China. tarot also forms tubers on the roots, which are used boiled to prepare many dishes.
Chufa is also a tuberous plant from the sedge family and forms on its thin fibrous roots huge amount small tender nodules. The number of nodules on the roots of an average, well-developed plant can reach up to 1000 pieces. The nodules are very nutritious, oily (oil content up to 40%), rich in starch, protein, sugar and taste like almonds. They are eaten fresh and roasted and used in the same way as nuts in the confectionery industry. Chufa is well known in Spain and Italy, where it is very popular.
Another tuberous plant widely cultivated in Southeast Asia, Africa and Australia is yam. Its tubers, unlike chufa, reach truly enormous sizes: up to 1 m in diameter and up to 50 kg in weight. Tubers are characterized by a high content of starch and protein, are very nutritious and find a wide variety of uses.
In many countries of Southeast Asia, plants that are quite unusual to our understanding are used as vegetables. Yes, some types bamboo They are highly valued as vegetable plants, and young bamboo shoots and buds are used for food, used for salads in fresh and canned form.
U aquatic plant lotus Rhizomes and fruits in the form of small nuts are used for food. In China and Japan, many different dishes are prepared from lotus, including sweet ones - dessert dishes, compotes and jelly.
Vegetable plants cultivated or wild herbaceous plants whose succulent parts are used for food - Vegetables. K O. r. There are more than 1,200 species belonging to 78 families, about half of which are cultivated, the rest are used in the wild. In various O. r. fruits (fruit varieties - tomato, eggplant, pepper, cucumber, watermelon, peas, beans, etc.), shoots, leaves and their petioles, heads of cabbage (leaf varieties - cabbage, lettuce, spinach, dill, chard, etc.), bulbs (onion O. r. - onions, garlic, leeks), thickened roots (root vegetables - carrots, beets, turnips, radishes, radishes, etc.), etc. K O. r. also includes mushrooms (champignon). According to the life expectancy of O. r. They are divided into one-, two- and perennial. Annuals complete their life cycle (from seed to seed) in one year and die off completely (legumes, pumpkins, radishes, dill, etc.). Biennials in the 1st year of life form food organs that are used as food, and in the 2nd year - seeds (onions, garlic, root vegetables, except radishes, cabbage, except cauliflower and Chinese cabbage, artichoke). Perennial O. r. (rhubarb, sorrel, asparagus, tarragon, onion, etc.) are characterized by repeated fruiting (seed formation). Most O. r. comes from tropical and subtropical zones. Many of them are heat-loving, demanding on soil fertility and moisture. Some types of O. r. cold-resistant, which makes it possible to grow them in the north, in early dates in the Central region and in winter in subtropical regions. See also Vegetable growing. G. V. Boss.
Great Soviet Encyclopedia. - M.: Soviet Encyclopedia. 1969-1978 .
See what “Vegetable plants” are in other dictionaries:
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Vegetables have a unique classification. Vegetables differ from other agricultural crops in terms of cultivation requirements, morphological structure, intensity of development and growth, life expectancy, and organs used for food. The classification is based on biological features, botanical and economically valuable characteristics.
How to classify vegetables
Botanical classification of vegetables
Botanical classification is the division of vegetable crops according to the characteristics of their morphological structure. There are mono- and dicotyledonous classes of vegetable crops.
Monocot classes of vegetables:
- asparagus - ;
- bulbous -, chives and multi-tiered onions, garlic;
- cereals (poagrass) – .
Dicotyledonous classes of vegetables:
- pumpkin – , pumpkins;
- cabbage (cruciferous) - red cabbage, savoy cabbage, Brussels sprouts, kohlrabi, radish, katran and horseradish;
- Quinoaceae - spinach, chard and beets;
- celery (umbrella) - carrots, parsnips, parsley, ;
- Solanaceae – , ;
- legumes – beans, beans;
- buckwheat – rhubarb, sorrel;
- Asteraceae (Asteraceae) – chicory, lettuce, artichoke, tarragon.
When defining crops by cultivation methods and organs of consumption, this classification is inconvenient. Crops such as root vegetables (radishes, radishes) and cabbages belong to the same family - the cabbage family, but their method of cultivation and organs of consumption are different. There are vegetables that belong to different families according to botanical taxonomy and the structure of the aerial parts, but they all form root vegetables. They also have the same agronomic cultivation measures.
To make it convenient to sell and use vegetables, they are divided into groups according to the characteristics of the use of productive organs:
- root vegetables (carrots, radishes, red beets, celery, radishes, parsnips, parsley);
- leafy (lettuce, kale, sorrel, spinach, celery, dill);
- fruits (eggplants, cucumbers, tomatoes, sweet corn, melons, watermelons, peas, pumpkins, beans, beans);
- stem fruits (kohlrabi cabbage);
- the floral group includes plants where flowers, buds, and inflorescences are used as food (artichoke, broccoli, cauliflower);
- The spicy group includes vegetable crops in which vegetative organs used as a seasoning for food (parsley, tarragon, dill);
- Vegetable growing also includes the cultivation of mushrooms (oyster mushrooms, champignons).
When producing vegetables, the above classification is not convenient enough, since the group may include crops grown in different ways. Edelstein took into account the agrotechnical and biological features and properties of crop productivity organs and obtained the following groups:
- cabbages: red and white cabbage, savoy and cauliflower, kohlrabi and Brussels sprouts;
- root vegetables: goosefoot family - beets; celery family - celery, carrots, parsnips, parsley; cabbage family - radish, radish.
- tubers: potatoes;
- bulbous: the bulbous family - onions, garlic, chives, onions, multi-tiered onions and leeks;
- leafy: lettuce, spinach, dill;
- fruits: from the nightshade family - physalis, tomatoes, peppers, eggplants; pumpkin - squash, cucumbers, melons, watermelons, zucchini, pumpkins; legumes - beans, beans, vegetable peas; bluegrass – sweet corn;
- perennial: asparagus family – asparagus; buckwheat family – rhubarb, sorrel; Aster family - tarragon; cabbage family - katran, horseradish;
- mushrooms: oyster mushrooms, champignons.
Vegetables are divided according to life expectancy into perennial, annual and biennial.
Annual crops complete their growing life cycle within one year. In biennials, in the first year of vegetation, productive organs are formed, and after wintering, the buds of the crop sprout, a stem is formed, flowering and fruiting begin. Such vegetable crops include: cabbage (except Chinese and cauliflower), beets, celery, parsley, leeks and onions, carrots, parsnips and others.
In perennial vegetable crops, in the first year, the root system, rosette of leaves, and bud formation occur. Productive organs begin to form in the second or third year. From the second year fruiting begins, which can last for many years. Perennial crops include sorrel, rhubarb, asparagus, horseradish and others.