Broccoli is a kind of edible green plant in cabbage family. Its big flower is eaten as vegetable.

The word broccoli comes from the Italian plural of broccoli, which means "the corolla of cabbage", a small form of broccoli, which means "little nail" or "bean sprout". Broccoli is often boiled or steamed, but can be eaten raw.

Broccoli belongs to italica cultivar group of Brassica. Broccoli has a large, usually green flower head, arranged in a tree like structure and branches from a dense edible stem. The flower heads are surrounded by leaves. Broccoli, similar to cauliflower, is a different cultivated variety of the same species.

Broccoli is the result of carefully cultivated Brassica crops in the northern Mediterranean since about the 6th century BC. Since the Roman Empire, broccoli has been regarded as a unique and precious food among Italians. Broccoli was brought from Antwerp to England by Peter scheemakers in the middle of the 18th century. Broccoli was first introduced into the United States by immigrants from southern Italy, but it didn't become popular until 1920s.