Romanesco broccoli—despite its name—is neither a broccoli nor a cauliflower, even though it belongs to the same family of brassicas. But one thing is for sure: This plant is not only one of the most stunning vegetables you can grow in your garden, it’s a mathematical marvel based on the Fibonacci sequence.Few things in the garden are more mesmerizing than the Italian heirloom plant known as Romanesco broccoli.
The chartreuse bud looks like it was sculpted by a fine artist with its distinctive spiraled pinnacles. It’s an edible flower (just like heads of broccoli or heads of artichoke) that we eat as a vegetable.
Romanesco belongs to the genus Brassica, which is unusual in that instead of individual species, it bundles all of its members (such as broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, kale, mustard greens, kohlrabi, and turnips) into one species, making them all Brassica oleracea. (If you remember high school science, plant taxonomy goes like this: kingdom, order, family, genus, species, and sometimes, subspecies.)
That means Romanesco broccoli (which is sometimes called Romanesco cauliflower) is neither a broccoli nor a cauliflower, though it’s often grouped botanically with cauliflower (Brassica oleracea var. botrytis). It is its own cultivar and by the looks of it, this head-turning vegetable is truly in a class of its own (in more ways than one!).