(St. Louis Public Radio) In East St. Louis, collard enthusiasts are applying serious science to rare varieties

Hundreds of collard greens are evenly planted in rows inside a softly-lit greenhouse at the Jackie Joyner-Kersee Food, Agriculture and Nutrition Innovation Center in East St. Louis, Illinois.

These collards look surprisingly different from each other and from what you would typically find in a grocery store. Some leaves are smooth, others curly. There are even big differences in color, ranging from yellowish to deep green lined by bright purple veins.

“But as varied as they are above ground, they're also doing some really cool things below ground,” said Antonio Brazelton, a plant scientist who studies the roots of collard greens.

A Ph.D. candidate at Washington University in St. Louis, who also works in a lab at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, Brazelton is coordinator for research partnerships at the Jackie Joyner-Kersee Foundation.

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