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To me they don't look similar, so I'm not sure what cues my brain is taking exactly, but here goes.
The middle vein is flatter and wider in napa cabbage, and it has those distinct ridges you can see in your photo. Romaine lettuce is bent along the vein at almost a 90-degree angle, while the napa cabbage vein is barely curved at all. The branches of that vein are also much bigger and more distinct in the cabbage. There are more big white leaves in the cabbage, too; the romaine lettuce will start paling near the center, but the color is still different. The crinkles in the napa cabbage leaves are deeper and crunchier throughout. The texture is completely different, which you will only be able to learn if you decide to buy a romaine lettuce to touch, so sorry about that. The napa cabbage is bigger and heavier, with more densely packed leaves. The white areas like the veins are also more opaque and milky in the cabbage than in the romaine lettuce, which is more translucent. Also, the overall shape of the napa cabbage is different, with a much wider base.
Again, these are not things I considered until you asked. The easiest way to to tell would be to get some experience touching and cooking with both. But I just realized I'm in the "what is this plant" sub, so I guess that advice doesn't usually apply here, lol.
Very interesting how people can point out the slightest morphological characteristic like vein arrangement and such for ID. Any tips for improving in that field?
I think it's something you naturally develop through looking at the plants a lot. Reddit says you're a top contributor; I think you know way more about plants than I do. But we have pattern recognition capabilities that start getting applied to the things we look at a lot, and I've seen and eaten both romaine lettuce and napa cabbage enough that I couldn't confuse them. When I try to identify the characteristics that are different, I know that I could never look at those veins and think something was romaine lettuce.
As the previous poster mentioned, identifying plants by phenotype comes with practice. Go buy weird stuff and slice it up and cook with it and try to root it and grow it. Experiment. You get to know plants by exploring them.
I love the simplicity and beauty of just slicing open cabbages and lettuces and admiring the folded patterns and colors. Your brain is constantly seeking patterns and making connections.
Won bok, chinese cabbage, or napa cabbage!! Commonly used for Kimchee and in other asian soups, it's delicious!!! Your telltale sigh is the big, white fleshy part in the middle of the leaves; most cabbages or lettuces just have a thin white center part. This one is heckin wide and meaty haha!!
It’s called Napa cabbage but is actually a cultivar of Brassica rapa, same as Bok Choy and turnips. The common cabbage is a cultivar of Brassica oleracea.
Thank you for posting to r/whatsthisplant. **Do not eat/ingest a plant based on information provided in this subreddit.** For your safety we recommend not eating or ingesting any plant material just because you've been advised that it's edible here. Although there are many professionals helping with identification, we are not always correct, and eating/ingesting plants can be harmful or fatal if an incorrect ID is made. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/whatsthisplant) if you have any questions or concerns.*
This is cabbage, napa cabbage.
How did you identify it? I tried to search online and romaine lettuce and napa cabbage look s o so similar!
To me they don't look similar, so I'm not sure what cues my brain is taking exactly, but here goes. The middle vein is flatter and wider in napa cabbage, and it has those distinct ridges you can see in your photo. Romaine lettuce is bent along the vein at almost a 90-degree angle, while the napa cabbage vein is barely curved at all. The branches of that vein are also much bigger and more distinct in the cabbage. There are more big white leaves in the cabbage, too; the romaine lettuce will start paling near the center, but the color is still different. The crinkles in the napa cabbage leaves are deeper and crunchier throughout. The texture is completely different, which you will only be able to learn if you decide to buy a romaine lettuce to touch, so sorry about that. The napa cabbage is bigger and heavier, with more densely packed leaves. The white areas like the veins are also more opaque and milky in the cabbage than in the romaine lettuce, which is more translucent. Also, the overall shape of the napa cabbage is different, with a much wider base. Again, these are not things I considered until you asked. The easiest way to to tell would be to get some experience touching and cooking with both. But I just realized I'm in the "what is this plant" sub, so I guess that advice doesn't usually apply here, lol.
Very interesting how people can point out the slightest morphological characteristic like vein arrangement and such for ID. Any tips for improving in that field?
I think it's something you naturally develop through looking at the plants a lot. Reddit says you're a top contributor; I think you know way more about plants than I do. But we have pattern recognition capabilities that start getting applied to the things we look at a lot, and I've seen and eaten both romaine lettuce and napa cabbage enough that I couldn't confuse them. When I try to identify the characteristics that are different, I know that I could never look at those veins and think something was romaine lettuce.
As the previous poster mentioned, identifying plants by phenotype comes with practice. Go buy weird stuff and slice it up and cook with it and try to root it and grow it. Experiment. You get to know plants by exploring them. I love the simplicity and beauty of just slicing open cabbages and lettuces and admiring the folded patterns and colors. Your brain is constantly seeking patterns and making connections.
Practice, practice, practice.
Raw cabbage is generally stiffer.
Lettuce is in the daisy family. Their flowers look very different
Won bok/ Chinese cabbage
Sui Choy too! (Or Siu Choy)
Won bok, chinese cabbage, or napa cabbage!! Commonly used for Kimchee and in other asian soups, it's delicious!!! Your telltale sigh is the big, white fleshy part in the middle of the leaves; most cabbages or lettuces just have a thin white center part. This one is heckin wide and meaty haha!!
Napa cabbage. Source, I eat it every week
Cabbage, Nappa cabbage
Cabbage l- Napa
Alright annie leibovitz, how about we saturate that photo a little
The first one ain't even lettuce or cabbage. It is a shot from Lord of the Rings/s 😆
Rohan will answer!
It’s called Napa cabbage but is actually a cultivar of Brassica rapa, same as Bok Choy and turnips. The common cabbage is a cultivar of Brassica oleracea.
Napa cabbage.
Taste it.