The collard grown in the pottage bed is an American heirloom variety. The early English settlers brought primitive cabbages, known as coleworts, to Virginia. These are preserved in the many varieties of collard eaten in the American South. The name “collard” is a corruption of the older name, “colewort.” (”Wort” is the old English term for a plant of any kind. “Cole” derives from the Latin caulis, meaning “stem” or “cabbage.”)