Cabbage patch kings.

Christmas cabbages. No, I am advocating a new form of decoration or a substitute for sprouts with your turkey.

When I chose Cruciferae for this month's family article, it was more timely than I thought.

The name comes from the cross shape formed by the four petals on the flowers, a link to the religious part of Christmas.

Brussels sprouts are of course a member of the family and are our traditional green vegetable with our Christmas dinner.

Because of the advent of mixed green salads and our five portions of fruit or vegetables per day, there are probably as many Cruciferous vegetables available at this time of year as any other.

The family has over 390 genera and 3,000 species plus countless varieties developed over the centuries from wild species still found around Britain today, like the wild cabbage (Brassica oleracea), turnip (Brassica rapa), sea kale (Crambe maritime), wild radish (Raphanus raphanistrum) and white mustard (Sinapsis alba), the mustard of "mustard and cress".

Look in wild flower books and seed catalogues and you will find more representatives of this diverse and important family.

The true cabbages, cauliflowers and other edible Brassica oleracea have, over the years been sub-divided into distinct groups.

Examples are: Botrytis group, including cauliflower and perennial broccoli; Capitata group, the cabbages; Gemmifera group, the Brussels sprouts; and Gongylodes group, kohl rabi.

The Brassica rapa species has also been divided and includes the Chinensis group, pak-choi, Chinese mustard and Chinese white cabbage; the Pekinensis group, pe-tsai and celery cabbage and the Rapifera group, the turnips and rapini.

Oil seed rape originates from Brassica napus, though these days it's hard for the untrained eye to distinguish the wild plants from the field escapes.

Water cress, Nasturtium officinale can be found floating in many gentle streams all over Britain and, with our control and management is now an important salad crop, along with rocket, Eruca vesicaria.

One of the features of many of the ornamental species of this family is their beautiful scent.

Our common wallflower, Erysimum cheirii, has, on a balmy spring evening, got one of the most powerful scents of any garden plant and the stocks, Matthiola species, grown as bedding plants, cut flowers or as a hardy annual, can fill a garden or a living room with scents no air freshener could rival.

Grow the night-scented hardy annual or the biennial ten-week and Brompton stocks for a garden full of scent.

It is rather strange that, although the flowers of these and other species are so wonderful, the smells given off by the edible representatives of the family can be quite disgusting - an oddity of the natural world and its attempts at balance.

Other ornamental plants found tucked away in the background of this vast family include such springtime delights as arabis, aubretia, the Cuckoo-flower, Cardamine pratensis, honesty, Lunaria annua and a little later, the candytuft, Iberis and the beautifully scented Hesperis matronalis, Dame's violet or sweet rocket.

Like most families, there are one or two strange representatives and one or two weeds that can plague the garden.

Armoracia rusticana can be found naturalised in grassy embankments all over Britain and without it, your roast beef would not be quite the same - yes, that's horse radish.

Don't let it into your garden unless you can grow it like mint in a large containers - its thick, fleshy roots will spread gently, forming an impenetrable patch after a few years.

Cardamine hirsuta, the hairy bitter cress, has become one of the worst examples of the Cruciferae family to invade our gardens in recent years and needs constant vigilance to manage it's invasive and devious nature - remember that this ephemeral weed can germinate, grow, flower and set seed 12 months of the year - even when you are indoors by the fireside.

If you take walks through local woods, you will almost certainly have come across Jack-in-the-hedge, Alliaria petiolata, sometimes called garlic mustard or hedge garlic - don't let it leap into your garden, it can spread rapidly by seed.

Whichever representative of the Cruciferae family you have on your plate this Christmas, try to enjoy it with someone else - have a peaceful and happy Christmas.

In January's family article I will be looking at important culinary and ornamental family, Liliaceae, that includes alliums, aspidistra, hyacinths and tulips.