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Vegetable is a nutritional and culinary term denoting any part of a plant that is commonly consumed by humans as food, but is not regarded as a culinary fruit, nut, herb, spice, or grain. In common usage, vegetables include the leaves (e.g. lettuce), stems (asparagus), roots (carrot) and flowers (broccoli) of various plants. But the term can also encompass non-sweet fruits such as seed-pods (beans), cucumbers, squashes, pumpkins, tomatoes, avocadoes, green peppers, etc., as well as fleshy, immature seeds such as those of maize, peas or beans.
Commercial production of vegetables is a branch of horticulture called olericulture.
Traditionally the term Vegetable can also be used to designate the entire Plant Kingdom, as in "Animal, Vegetable, and Mineral."
See Also
The term vegetable is also used in a derogatory way to refer to a patient with severe brain damage, or who is in a persistent vegetative state.
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