Detached kohlrabi leaves of late autumn material yellowed completely after 6 days in weak light. This process was accompanied by a decrease in chlorophyll, protein, and ribonucleic acid levels. In the chloroplasts, degeneration symptoms such as reduction in chloroplast volume, the decay of grana, development of the long thylakoid system, disappearance of chloroplast ribosomes, increase in the volume of plastoglobuli, and finally a complete breakdown of plastids in the digesting vacuoles, were observed. The ultrastructural changes in degenerating kohlrabi chloroplasts resembled those described earlier for brussels sprouts (Denniset al. 1967), which suggests that the plastid degeneration model may be specific for speciesBrassica oleracea L.