Discovery and establishment as an antiscorbutic

From 1734, when Dutch physician Johannes Bachstrom coined the term “antiscorbutic,” until 1795, when the British Admiralty made the issue of lemon juice compulsory on ships, leafy vegetables in Brassicaceae, including cress, mustard, cabbage, and turnip, were commonly employed as remedies for scurvy during long voyages. The edible Kerguelen cabbage Pringlea antiscorbutica, a member of this family, was first described by Europeans in 1776 from Christmas Harbour on Kerguelen Island during Cook’s third voyage (1776–1780). William Anderson (1750–1778), naturalist and surgeon on this voyage, provided the first description of Kerguelen cabbage, recognising it as an edible member of Brassicaceae, and detailed its use as food, and as an antiscorbutic. He placed the plant in the monotypic genus Pringlea, in recognition of the plant’s distinctiveness (Hooker, Reference Hooker1847, p. 238). Native southern hemisphere Brassicaceae had proved popular as antiscorbutics throughout Cook’s voyages because they resembled the familiar edible common cabbage (Brassica oleracea), cress (Lepidium), and horseradish (Armoracia rusticana) from Europe (De Lange & Norton, Reference De Lange and Norton1996). Cook encouraged the crew’s consumption of Pringlea, “gathered with much labour among the cliffs of the rocks,” (Cook, Reference Cook1785, p. 38). His regime was successful, and he did not lose a single sailor to scurvy during his third voyage.

Pringlea antiscorbutica R. Br. Ex Hook. F. 1845 (Brassicaceae) is a long-lived perennial plant endemic to four sub-Antarctic islands and island groups lying between 37˚ and 73˚E in the Indian Ocean. The plant resembles common cabbage, with a succulent, edible rosette of green leaves up to forty-five centimetres in diameter, surrounding a heart of younger leaves, all of which contain a pungent essential oil (Fig. 1). Older plants have a semi-prostrate woody stem up to one metre long, with rhizomes (often called the “root” in historical text), and flower spikes can remain on the plant for years. William Anderson stated in 1776, “It has not only the appearance, but the watery acrid taste of the antiscorbutic plants, and yet differs materially from the whole tribe; so that we looked upon it as a production entirely peculiar to the place.” (Cook, Reference Cook1785, pp. 84–85). Frequently eaten raw, Anderson explains, it tasted almost like the “New Zealand scurvy-grass,” Lepidium oleraceum G.Forst. ex Sparrm. (1780) (De Lange, & Norton, Reference De Lange and Norton1996), called nau, heketara, and ngau in Te Reo Māori, also in Brassicaceae, and used by Māori for swollen gums, possibly predating European contact (NZPCN, 2023).

Figure 1. Pringlea antiscorbutica R. Br. ex Hook. f., Kerguelen cabbage, resembles common cabbage (Brassica oleracea), with a succulent, edible rosette of green leaves up to 45 cm in diameter, surrounding a heart of younger leaves. Older plants possess a woody stem that is also edible. Lithograph by W.H. Fitch (Hooker, Reference Hooker1847).

The importance of Kerguelen cabbage persisted for decades. Sealers and whalers resident on Îles Kerguelen and Crozet used the cabbage as one of the mainstays of their diet, along with elephant seal. John Bartlett visited Kerguelen from November 1792 to January 1793 as a sailor on the American fur trader Ino, and described their diet as being chiefly penguins, their eggs, and “a sort of wild cabbage that we picked up on the shore [Christmas Harbour]. It had a kind of peppery taste and was the only vegetable that grew on that barren land” (Bartlett, in Snow et al., Reference Snow, Nicol, Barnard, Knights, Mariner and Bartlett1925, p. 329). Bartlett referenced Cook’s 1785 narratives of the island, with Anderson and Cook’s accounts guiding the crew’s awareness and appreciation of the Kerguelen cabbage as an edible antiscorbutic. The benefits of Pringlea antiscorbutica were highlighted by physician Nathaniel William Taylor (1823–1875), who aboard American whaler Julius Caesar, voyaged to Kerguelen from 1851–1853. Members of the crew with swollen gums and limbs (symptoms of scurvy) spent their days on the island gathering the “wild cabbage,” and once included in the diet, the afflicted sailors showed “much improvement” and were able to return to their duties within a few days. Taylor describes the plant as “certainly the greatest boon of nature to man on this island” (Taylor, Reference Taylor1929, p. 72). To the crew, it remained “a most invaluable and constant accompaniment to our meals, whether cut up in its raw state and eaten with vinegar, or cooked by itself, fried in fat, or boiled with beef and pork.” (Taylor, Reference Taylor1929, p. 82). It was the “principle food” for the cattle brought to Kerguelen: grazing on this plant allowed the animals to survive the austral winter.

As Cook and Anderson’s work established the cabbage as an antiscorbutic, botanist Joseph Dalton Hooker (1814–1911) formally enshrined this fact in its scientific name, Pringlea antiscorbutica. The genus name Pringlea had been given to Kerguelen cabbage by Anderson in honour of Sir John Pringle (1701–1782), a Scottish physician to the British Army and author of a major work on scurvy (Observations on Diseases of the Army, Pringle, Reference Pringle1752) and President of the Royal Society from 1772 until 1778. However, Anderson’s original manuscript Nova Genera Plantarum was never published, as he died from tuberculosis on board the Resolution in 1778; his descriptions of Kerguelen cabbage were instead published within Cook’s accounts of the voyage (Cook, 1785). Most of the plant specimens collected on Cook’s voyages, including Kerguelen cabbage, became the property of Sir Joseph Banks in Soho, London (Stearn, Reference Stearn1978, pp. 158–159). It fell to Hooker to formally classify the species in 1845, following his trip to the sub-Antarctic in 1840 as naturalist to Captain James Clarke Ross’ Antarctic Expedition. Hooker was the first to formally publish Kerguelen cabbage within Pringlea W. Anderson ex Hook.f. (Hooker, Reference Hooker1847, p. 238). The crew had used the plant daily, with Hooker espousing its health benefits (Hooker, Reference Hooker1847, p. 249): “For 130 days our crews required no fresh vegetable but this, which was for nine weeks regularly served out, with the salt beef or pork, during which time there was no sickness on board.” Hooker had wanted to name the plant Rossia kerguelensis, in recognition of Captain Ross (1800–1862), and the island on which it was found (Huxley, Reference Huxley1918, p. 78). Instead, “at Mr [Robert] Brown’s suggestion,” (Robert Brown, Scottish Botanist 1773—1858; Hooker, Reference Hooker1847, p. 249), Hooker lent the “trivial” name of antiscorbutica (“against scurvy”, in Latin) to the species, in recognition of its ability to prevent and cure scurvy (Hatt, Reference Hatt1949). He described P. antiscorbutica as “perhaps the most interesting plant procured during the whole voyage in the Antarctic” (Hooker, Reference Hooker1847, p. 249). These early descriptions by Anderson and formal naming by Hooker ensured Pringlea antiscorbutica maintained its associations with the prevention and cure of scurvy.

Culinary contrasts

Early explorers, sealers, whalers, castaways, and naturalists all had varying views on the suitability of Kerguelen cabbage for sustenance, including whether it was better eaten raw or cooked, and the method of cooking (Thieret, & Young Reference Thieret and Young1988). Differing opinions and views towards Pringlea as a vegetable (Table 1) likely reflect the diversity of personal taste, cultural attitudes of the time, as well as a question of necessity. Despite its acrid taste (attributed to the oil in the leaves), most sailors recognised the antiscorbutic properties of Pringlea. The mere presence of a recognisably edible cabbage on such a remote southern island (compared to South Georgia, for example, with a more desolate flora) would have heightened its value alone. It is likely the Kerguelen cabbage was placed in higher esteem due to Cook and Anderson’s success at preventing and curing scurvy, and more accessible published writings on this topic by Cook (Reference Cook1785). Its perceived nutritional and health benefits likely increased its culinary reception among eighteenth and nineteenth-century sailors.

Table 1. Eighteenth-nineteenth-century sailors used Pringlea antiscorbutica as a vegetable and scurvy remedy.

Not all found the plant favourable, however, due to its bitter taste when eaten raw. British crew of the Princess of Wales cutter, shipwrecked on the Îles Crozet in 1821, ultimately found the cabbage “so bitter that we could make no use of it” (Goodridge, Reference Goodridge1847, p. 80; Fig. 2). While the historical popularity of vegetables in the Western diet is still debated (Knapp, Reference Knapp1996; Ross, Reference Ross1993), a possible paucity of vegetables in the eighteenth–nineteenth-century European diet may have contributed to this unfavourable reception. A lack of understanding of nutrition may also explain the crew’s unwillingness to include the plant in their diet. The second Princess of Wales party, separated from the main crew, on another island on the Îles Crozet, “either using more sagacity or more patience” had found Pringlea to be a very useful vegetable once boiled for three or four hours, where it became quite sweet (Goodridge, Reference Goodridge1847, p. 80). Emil Werth (1869–1958), scientist on the German South Pole Expedition 1901–1903, led by Erich von Drygalski aboard the Gauss, found that eating a large amount of the spicy, “mustard oil-tasting leaves” raw would cause digestive complaints, and also advocated cooking the plant, preferring the cooked heart leaves of larger plants (Fig. 3) to provide a better flavour, resembling savoy cabbage (Werth, Reference Werth and Drygalski1911, p. 251). However, these attempts to make the vegetables more palatable would have rendered them useless for scurvy prevention or cure, as boiling destroys their vitamin C content.

Figure 2. Pringlea antiscorbutica, from Charles Medyett Goodridge’s narrative of being castaway on Îles Crozet with the shipwreck of Princess of Wales (Goodridge, 1843, p. 80).

Figure 3. Werth with a large 24-year-old specimen of Pringlea antiscorbutica on Kerguelen Island as part of the 1901–1903 Gauss Expedition, showing the plant’s stem and four flower spikes (Werth, Reference Werth and Drygalski1911, p. 247).

Contemporary understanding of nutritional value

Research into the chemistry of P. antiscorbutica last century has revealed the pungent oil found in the leaves contains large amounts of vitamin C, and the leaves themselves have high levels of potassium and glucosinolates (GLs). Hatt (Reference Hatt1949) investigated the ascorbic acid content of the cabbage, after the establishment of the Australian National Antarctic Research Expedition on Heard Island in 1949. Using live plants obtained on the island and brought back to Australia in pots, they extracted ascorbic acid from the heart, middle, and outer leaves, as well as old and young rhizomes. Heart leaves were shown to be the richest in ascorbic acid containing an average of 150 mg per 100 g, similar to that found in broccoli leaves, flowers, and parsley. The author contended that when eaten raw, the high ascorbic acid content of the heart leaves made it a valuable antiscorbutic. This corroborates the practical evidence found by Cook, Anderson, Hooker, and Taylor: eating the plant raw provided a cure for scurvy. Cooking the plant decreases its vitamin C availability, lending those who did so a less effective antiscorbutic.

A contemporary French study (Delaveau et al., Reference Delaveau, Hotellier, Guérin and Courcelle1973) found high levels of dehydroascorbic acids (oxidised ascorbic acids, a source of vitamin C) in P. antiscorbutica leaves harvested from Îles Crozet during 1970–1971. More recent work by Barillari Iori et al. (Reference Barillari, Iori, Rollin and Hennion2005) examined the amount of glucosinolates in the seeds and leaves using High Performance Liquid Chromatography. The plant material was gathered in 2001 and 2002 from a selection of ten plants from a monitored population on Île Australia, Kerguelen Islands. High concentrations of GLs and a low instance of unhealthy GLs bearing a β-hydroxylated aliphatic side chain (found in other Brassicaceae such as broccoli) were found in the leaves. The authors concluded that Pringlea antiscorbutica can be considered a good dietary source of GLs and of high nutritional value. The value of Pringlea, theorised, recognised, and utilised by sailors since its first observations by Europeans in 1776, has been confirmed by contemporary phytochemistry.

Cultivation attempts

Given the plant’s use as an antiscorbutic and its nutritional value, there have been several attempts to cultivate the plant outside of the sub-Antarctic region over the past two centuries. Captain Fuller postulated that the “slight bitter taste” could surely be removed by “a little cultivation” (Fuller, n.d., as quoted in, p. 295), attempting to import the P. antiscorbutica to the Americas. This attempt was unsuccessful, with those planted in the Bahamas “putting in a withered appearance,” (Fuller, n.d., as quoted in, p. 295). Due to the apparent hardiness of the plant, Fuller dismissed the change in temperature as the reason for its failure and instead blamed the difference in the quality of the “water or atmosphere” compared to The Desolation Islands. Earlier efforts at cultivating the plant in England, Scotland, Ireland, and Tasmania, Australia had failed (Hooker, Reference Hooker1879; Huxley, Reference Huxley1918), with the plants succumbing to the summer heat and fungal attack. Further attempts were made by both American and French scientific voyages to cultivate and acclimatise Kerguelen cabbage, with seeds being brought to America in 1919 (Thieret & Young, Reference Thieret and Young1988), and France in 1927 (Anthony, Reference Anthony1929, translation provided by J. H. Beattie, pers. comms., May 22, 2019). No records have been found of the seeds being planted in America.

Despite initial success at growing plants from seed while on ship, Hooker’s attempts at cultivation failed once transplanted in Tasmania, and the seed brought back to Kew never germinated (Huxley, Reference Huxley1918, pp. 77–78). Having sent Pringlea seed to Kew, his father Sir William Jackson Hooker (1785–1865), then Director of the Gardens, was unable to germinate any of the seeds, which met with consternation from his son.

The crew had apparently amused themselves by planting P. antiscorbutica on many of the lands they visited during Ross’ voyage “here and there where we go,” although no specifics are given. Hooker planned to send a Wardian case (early form of terrarium used to transport live plants across the seas in the nineteenth century; see Keogh, Reference Keogh2019; Rigby, Reference Rigby and Lincoln1998) back to Britain, filled with Southern Hemisphere native plants and Kerguelen cabbage seeds sown amongst them. Certain that his father would find success if the seeds were cool and damp enough, Joseph Hooker suggested attempting to germinate the seeds in a “black vegetable mould” (Hooker, as quoted in Huxley, Reference Huxley1918, p. 77), like peat, in a cool, very wet, and shaded position. Despite these efforts, all further cultivation attempts failed, suggesting that the seeds may not be viable for extended periods.

Details have been published about a small-scale French cultivation trial by R. Anthony in 1929. Receiving 100 seeds in 1927 from the Director of the French General Company of Îles Kerguelen, Saint-Paul, and Amsterdam, most failed to germinate in pots. One potted plant survived frosts and thrived for approximately two months, before showing “worrying signs” and dying (Anthony, Reference Anthony1929, p. 451). Anthony argues that had the plant not been attacked by nematodes, it would have likely survived and recognises the limits of his small sample size. Several other cultivation attempts in France (Bois, Reference Bois1927) proved unsuccessful. Further laboratory and field research (Dorne & Bligny, Reference Dorne and Bligny1993) suggested that the higher water content of the leaves (eighty-three per cent) prevents the plant from growing in areas with lower soil-water content than the saturated soils of the sub-Antarctic. This also suggests that Pringlea may be more susceptible to root pathogens, once removed from the cold climatic conditions of its native range. This has been demonstrated in several Australasian alpine plant species in glasshouse trials (Rigg et al., Reference Rigg, McDougall and Liew2018). Essentially, Anthony (Reference Anthony1929) proposed that P. antiscorbutica was unable to support water deprivation and may be specifically adapted to the sub-Antarctic climate. This supports Fuller’s 1873 theory of “water or atmosphere” being the greatest limiting factor to plant growth and survival and demonstrates a sophisticated ability to conceptualise the natural world for a non-naturalist.

A plant of many names

Azorella polaris (Hombr., & Jacquinot ex Hook.f.) A.Gray (1854) Macquarie Island cabbage; Apiaceae (historically Araliaceae) is a long-lived sub-Antarctic herb, endemic to the Auckland, Campbell, and Macquarie Islands, that, like Pringlea, proved a historically important antiscorbutic and source of sustenance to sub-Antarctic sailors and castaways. The plant has large, fleshy, rhubarb-like leaves, individuals growing up to two metres in height, and diameter (Allan, Reference Allan1961) with umbels of white and purple waxy flowers (Fig. 4). Like P. antiscorbutica, Macquarie Island cabbage is a distinctive sub-Antarctic endemic, locally abundant, bearing edible and antiscorbutic rhizomes and leaves. Its range does not overlap with that of Pringlea, so it possesses a unique association with historical visitors to the sub-Antarctic islands. This has created a divergent cultural history, with a unique influence on contemporary botanical research. Macquarie Island cabbage is also known as pūnui in Te Reo Māori (a name shared with Aotearoa’s mainland species Azorella lyallii, syn. Stilbocarpa lyallii), known historically among pākehā (European New Zealanders) as Māori cabbage, and to nineteenth-century sealers and castaways simply as “root”. The variety of common and cultural names signifies its importance to the diversity of visitors to the islands on which it occurs. A recent scientific name change to Azorella polaris (Hombr., & Jacquinot ex Hook.f.) G. M. Plunkett, & A. N. Nicolas (2016) reflects a new phylogenetic classification, which synonymised several related genera within Azorella, including Stilbocarpa, and placed them within the Apiaceae family (see also Mitchell et al., Reference Mitchell, Meurk and Wagstaff1999). Here, we trace the history of European taxonomic naming, botanical, and morphological descriptions by early scientists and sailors, and focus on the use of A. polaris for food and scurvy prevention and cure among nineteenth-century sailors and castaways to the Auckland Islands/Motu Maha, Campbell Island/Motu Ihupuku, and Macquarie Island.

Figure 4. Azorella polaris is endemic to Auckland, Campbell, and Macquarie Islands, where it grows from an edible rhizome up to 4 cm in diameter, to a plant up to 2 m in height (top). It has broad, fleshy, lobed leaves, with hairs, up to 40 cm wide; its flowers occur in umbels (bottom left), and individual florets have waxy yellow petals, some with a purple centre (bottom right). Photographs by Karri Horton Hartley, Campbell Island, 2019.

Morphology and taxonomic history of discovery

Macquarie Island cabbage was first taxonomically described by Hooker as Aralia polaris Hombr., & Jacquinot ex Hook.f. (1844), (Araliaceae) after Ross’ voyages to the Auckland and Campbell Islands in 1840. Although Hooker was certain the plant was a different genus to Aralia proper (Hooker, Reference Hooker1953, p. 95), he was hesitant to separate it before the primarily woody Araliaceae family was revised. After the 1843 publication of Aralia polaris from the South Island of New Zealand by Hombron and Jacquin (in Dumont d’Urville, & Jules-Sébastien-César, 1845), Hooker established the Aralia subgenus Stilbocarpa “in allusion to the shining fruit” (Hooker, Reference Hooker1953, p. 95). Hooker assigned the Macquarie Island cabbage to this subgenus in the Flora of New Zealand (Hooker, Reference Hooker1953, p. 95). American botanist Asa Gray (1810–1888) for the 1840 United States Exploring Expedition under Wilkes aboard the Porpoise, elevated the species to a new genus, Stilbocarpa, in the 1854 account of the botany of the voyage, due to its distinctive imbricate (overlapping) petals (Gray, Reference Gray1848, p. 714). Hooker proclaimed the plant, “one of the most beautiful and singular of the vegetable productions of the island it inhabits, growing in large orbicular masses on rocks and banks near the sea, or amongst the dense and gloomy vegetation of the woods” (Hooker, Reference Hooker1847, p. 20). He observed introduced mammals such as goats, pigs, and rabbits eating the whole plant “greedily,” perhaps one of the earliest published statements recognising the impacts of introduced mammals on the sub-Antarctic islands. Azorella polaris appeared so abundant in marshy habitats that Hooker documented the animals frequently living “entirely amongst it” (Hooker, Reference Hooker1847, p. 20), forming tracks between the patches of cabbages, nests from its trampled leaves and stems, and “grubbing up” the roots for sustenance.

English sailor Robert Holding, of the shipwrecked crew of the Invercauld, marooned on the Auckland Islands/Motu Maha for over a year in 1864, provided a description of A. polaris or “root,” one of their chief foods. According to Holding, its leaves were similar to that of the northern hemisphere plant marshmallow, but larger, “up to a foot across,” and the root tasted like sweet turnip when eaten raw (Holding, 1864, as quoted in Allen, Reference Allen1997, pp. 81, 139). Some plants were two feet high and the root “was of a scaly nature and at every year’s growth there formed a knotty substance of fibre” (Holding, 1864, as quoted in Allen, Reference Allen1997, p. 81). Marshmallow or marsh mallow plant, Althaea officinalis, Malvaceae, is a herbaceous perennial with broad, lobed, edible leaves (indeed like that of A. polaris) and tuberous roots, used in herbal medicines and culinary purposes, and is indigenous to Europe, West Asia, and North Africa.

Holding’s comparison with familiar northern hemisphere plants reflects his British background, as well as the crew’s attempts at gardening and cultivation. Holding observed that the cabbage “varied in size and utility, according to the locality of their growth,” with plants in the lowlands taller and more tender to eat (Holding, 1864, as quoted in Allen, Reference Allen1997, p. 139). The crew relocated to one of the smaller islands off the main Auckland Island in March 1845, in search of food, shelter, and a better chance at rescue. Hoping to cultivate the root as food, the castaways planted seeds, collected from the main island, in a small patch of cleared ground (Holding, 1864, as quoted in Allen, Reference Allen1997, p. 31). The fate of these seeds is unrecorded.

Sustenance and antiscorbutic for sailors

Macquarie Island cabbage’s sugary rhizomes, more palatable when cooked, proved a necessary vegetable component in the diet of travellers to these regions, as well as an important remedy for scurvy. Sailors’ use of the name “Macquarie Island cabbage”, despite the plant not being in the cabbage family, may reflect the known association between members of the “cabbage” family and antiscorbutic properties. Possessing distinguishable dark foliage and flavour like cultivated cabbage, it provided an easily accessible natural remedy to scurvy (Table 2). The Grafton castaway crew exhibited more curiosity in the uses of A. polaris than other marooned sailors, a luxury afforded by their better-rationed food due to their higher levels of discipline and leadership, which were vital for their survival and self-rescue (Allen, Reference Allen1997; see Table 2).

Table 2. The perceptions and use of Azorella polaris as a scurvy remedy amongst eighteenth-nineteenth-century sailors.

Contemporary understanding of nutritional value

Contemporary botanical understanding of the nutrient content of Macquarie Island cabbage is less advanced than that of Pringlea. However, studies provide insight into the chemistry behind the historic consumption of the plant by sailors. In 1998, a report commissioned by the Australian Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation (Dawson, Reference Dawson1998), considered the feasibility of introducing three sub-Antarctic species, P. antiscorbutica, and A. polaris, and the cress-like Callitriche antarctica (Plantaginaceae), to the Australian consumer market as new commercial salad and vegetable crops. The focus on the potential of A. polaris for development as a commercial vegetable reflects a curiosity borne from its historical use as food for sub-Antarctic sailors. In assessing the nutrient composition of the species, Emmerson, Greenfield, and Sagum (in Dawson, Reference Dawson1998, pp. 32–25) reported that cooking A. polaris in boiling water for twenty minutes resulted in the plant losing its entire vitamin C content (Table 3), whereas Pringlea boiled for five minutes still contained a relatively high proportion of vitamin C. The authors chose to cook Macquarie Island cabbage longer to render it edible. Sailors did record cooking the Macquarie Island cabbage for hours to make it more palatable (Bellingshausen, in Debenham, Reference Debenham1967), similarly for Pringlea (Goodridge, Reference Goodridge1847) but this would have rendered both species useless for scurvy prevention or cure. According to Dawson (Reference Dawson1998), both cooked Pringlea and Azorella contained useful levels of carotenoids; the lower levels of β-carotene reported for Azorella (Table 3) were attributed to the longer cooking method.

Table 3. The varying nutrient, mineral, and vitamin compositions of P. antiscorbutica and A. polaris from tests conducted by Emmerson, Greenfield, and Sagum in Dawson (Reference Dawson1998), pp. 32–25. Values are per 100 g edible portion.

While the authors claim the long cooking of Azorella was necessary to render it edible for commercial use, this method does not reflect that used by all nineteenth-century sailors, some of whom did eat the plant raw. Raw plant parts, and those cooked for a shorter time, are likely to contain higher levels of vitamin C and be more effective scurvy remedies. According to Dawson (Reference Dawson1998; Table 3), the amount of starch in cooked A. polaris was higher than that of Pringlea, so contained a higher level of energy, revealing its value as a staple foodstuff for castaways. In comparing levels of minerals in both species, cooked Macquarie Island cabbage contained a higher level of potassium than cooked Kerguelen cabbage. More research is needed to further reveal the chemistry behind the nutritional and sustenance value of A. polaris and to contrast the vitamin and mineral levels with that of Kerguelen cabbage using the preparation methods performed by sailors, in line with contemporary studies conducted by Hatt (Reference Hatt1949); Delaveau et al. (Reference Delaveau, Hotellier, Guérin and Courcelle1973); and Barillari et al. (Reference Barillari, Iori, Rollin and Hennion2005).

Contemporary research into the cultivation of Macquarie Island cabbage outside of the sub-Antarctic region found that it can be grown in greenhouses and in field trials (Dawson, Reference Dawson1998). It was not able to be germinated from seed and was instead propagated from cuttings. Australian commercial tests (Dawson Reference Dawson1998) found A. polaris too slow-growing to be commercially practicable but recommended further study with Pringlea. The Botanical Gardens in Nipaluna/Hobart, Australia maintains live specimens of A. polaris, as does the sub-Antarctic garden at Queens Park in Waihōpai/Invercargill, Aotearoa New Zealand.

The history of human association with A. polaris has influenced the contemporary botanical understanding of the species. Contemporary research on the Australian and Aotearoa New Zealand sub-Antarctic region has been strongly influenced by the leadership these countries have shown in island conservation (Scott, & Kirkpatrick, Reference Scott and Kirkpatrick2008; Young, Reference Young1995), and additionally on Macquarie, the threat of introduced mammals (Whinam et al., Reference Whinam, Fitzgerald, Visoiu and Copson2014). Correspondingly, research has focused on endangered mega-fauna, with botanical research limited to surveys and studies of the impact of introduced species (Copson & Whinam, Reference Copson and Whinam1998; Frenot et al., Reference Frenot, Chown, Whinam, Selkirk, Convey, Skotnicki and Bergstrom2005; Brown et al., Reference Brown, Cox and Fergus2022; Sindel et al., Reference Sindel, Wilson, Wilson, Hawking, Zahid, Iqbal and Kristiansen2022), and climate change (Chapuis et al., Reference Chapuis, Frenot and Lebouvier2004; Chau et al., Reference Chau, Born, McGeoch, Bergstrom, Shaw, Terauds and Jansen van Vuuren2019; Scott, & Kirkpatrick, Reference Scott and Kirkpatrick2012). With such a conservation focus, there has been no perceived need to investigate the nutritional value of A. polaris, or its autecology. For example, only two studies have been published on the pollination biology and breeding system of the species (Lord, Reference Lord2012; Lord et al., Reference Lord, Huggins, Little and Tomlinson2013). In contrast, contemporary studies of Pringlea have focused on its physiological adaptations to the cold and windy climate (Aubert et al., Reference Aubert, Assard, Boutin, Frenot and Dorne1999; Hennion, Frenot, & Martin-Tanguy, Reference Hennion, Frenot and Martin-Tanguy2006; Hummel et al., Reference Hummel, Amrani, Gouesbet, Hennion and Couée2004), and nutritional content (Barillari et al., Reference Barillari, Iori, Rollin and Hennion2005) stemming from its fame as a high latitude antiscorbutic. However, like A. polaris, little is known about the reproductive biology of Pringlea (Schermann-Legionnet et al., Reference Schermann-Legionnet, Hennion, Vernon and Atlan2007).