TKOI'-KOLl'M SMITHII. 81 



TROP^OLUM SMITHII. 



Sir James Smith's Indian- Cress. 

 Linnean Oktts— Octajtobia. Order— Monogtnia. Natural Order— Tkopjmlace^. 



If the Tropccolum Smithii cannot boast of such glowing tints as the T. speciosum, 

 figured in our first volume, it has at least the advantage of being more hardy, and 

 its annual character will contribute to bring it more rapidly into cultivation, than 

 in the case of some of the tuberous rooted and other perennial species. It is not 

 improbable that, preserved from frost in winter, it would prove of perennial 

 duration; but as it flowers copiously the first season, and ripens abundance of 

 seeds, it will be, in any case, most conveniently treated as an annual. 



In its succulent climbing habit it agrees with the general character of this 

 genus ; its foliage is larger than in the majority of the species, but is of the same 

 peltate form which is so peculiar to the Tropaeolunis, that is, the stalk is attached, 

 not to the end of the leaf, but near the centre of its inferior surface ; the limb is 

 divided into five oblong, pointed lobes, similar to those of the T. tuberosum. The 

 flowers are produced singly from the axils of the leaves, on long, looped, and 

 twisted peduncles ; the calyx is of a dull red, and terminates in a long and nearly 

 straight spur, tipped with green ; and the petals are five in number, the two upper 

 ones being the smallest, and attached directly to the interior of the calyx, the 

 three lower and larger ones by short claws or stalks. In most of the species it is 

 the two upper petals, which are the largest ; Smithii and speciosum are exceptions. 

 In their deeply cut fringed edge, the petals recall those of the ' Canary flower ' 

 (T. aduncumj, the Pagarille of our French neighbours, from which they differ not 

 only in their ground colour, but also in being elegantly veined and tipped 

 with red. 



In our article on tjjp T. speciosum, we pointed out a departure from the original 

 type of the genus in the presence in that species of stipules at the base of the 

 petiole, which we then supposed to be peculiar to it; but they occur also in the 

 T. Smithii, as our figiu-e will show. The Tropseolunis can therefore no longer be 

 designated with propriety as exstipulate plants ; nor is this the only point in which 

 the character of the genus, as originally defined, will need modification. Most of the 

 species produce their flWers singly from the axils of the. leaves, as in T. Smithii; 

 but in the remarkable T. umbellatuin, introduced a few years since, they are borne 

 in a terminal umbel, thus exhibiting another approach to the Geranium family, to 

 which they are very closely allied, and of which stipulate leaves and umbellate 

 flowers are two important features. We may remark too, en passant, that not only 



