Cabbage is from a group of plants known as the cole crops. The word cole derives from the Middle English word col. The Romans called these crops caulis, and the Greeks called them kaulion. All these words mean stem. This group of plants includes cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, kale, collards, kohlrabi, and Brussels sprouts. Wild cole crops are found growing along the Mediterranean and Atlantic coasts of Europe. Cabbages and kale presumably originated in Western Europe; cauliflower and broccoli in the Mediterranean region. Cabbages and kale were the first of the cole crops to be domesticated, probably about 2,000 years ago. Before these crops were domesticated they were collected from the wild and used primarily as medicinal herbs. The other forms of the cole crops were domesticated at later dates, and Brussels sprouts are the most recent crop, having come into existence less than 500 years ago.