Collard (plant)

Collard greens is the German umbrella term for various cultivars of the plant species vegetable cabbage (Brassica oleracea). These cultivars are grown for their large, dark, magnificent and edible leaves, but also to beautify the garden - mainly in Brazil, Portugal, the southern United States, Africa, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, southern Croatia, northern Spain and in India. Collard greens belong to the same cultivars as kale and early cabbage, to which they are also genetically very similar.

Cabbage is called couve in Portuguese-speaking countries such as Portugal, Angola and Brazil or, in Cape Verde, kovi or kobi - where it is a basic ingredient of feijoada and caldo verde. In Spanish-speaking countries it is called berza, verza in Italy, raštika in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia, and raštan in Montenegro and Serbia. In Kashmir, kale is called haak, meaning spinach. In Kenya it is better known by its Swahili name, sukuma wiki, and is often confused with kale. In New Zealand it is called Dalmatian Cabbage and in the United States collard greens.