16 



THE ART ALBUM OF NEW ZEALAND FLORA. 



GENUS I. 

 NASTURTIUM (Broicii.) The Water Cress. 



Genekic Character. — Branching liorbs with usually 

 yellow- flowers, and cut leaves. Sepals, spreading. Petals, 

 widi short claws, yellow, somel inies none. Stamens, 6 or fewer. 

 Pod, sidj-eylindrie, usually curved, valves membranous, con- 



cave, many-seeded. Seeds in 2 series in eacli valve, minute, 

 turgid. Cotyledons accumbent. — Hatidbook of New Zealand 

 Flora, p. 10. 



Description, etc. — A large British genus of which the Water Cress (JV^. officinale) 

 is a white-flowered species, abundantly naturalized in New Zealand rivers, etc. The 

 genus is said to have derived its name from the effect its acridity produces on the 

 muscles of the nose — nasus tortus, signifying a convulsed nose. 



1. NASTURTIUM PALUSTRE fD.C.J The Marsh Cress. 



Si'ECiFic OiiARACTEB. — A sub-crect glabrous, or pilose, 

 branching lierb, with entire or pinnatifid leaves, auricled at 

 the base, the lobes sinuate-toothed. Flowers on slender 



pedicels, small. Petals hardly longer than the calyx. Pods 

 turgid, oblong, as long as or shorter than their pedicels, 

 curved. — Handbook of New Zealand Flora, p. 11. 



Description, etc.— This herb is not uncommon in moist places, in both the 

 Northern and Middle Islands. Sir J. D. Hooker says in his notes that he adopted the 

 YL^Yiie palustve iov this plant because it is that used in most Continental books, and in 

 " Bentham's Australian Flora," but that of terrestre has equal claims to be retained. It is a 

 very widely-distributed plant in both the Old and New World. A state with almost entire 

 leaves, N. semipinnatifiduui , (Hook.,) sometimes occurs. The common Watercress {N. 

 officinale), which is indigenous to Britain is a well-known, hardy perennial, and has been 

 alnindantly naturalised in New Zealand. In the rivers of Canterbury and in many other 

 favoural)le localities it has become a j^erfect pest, attaining a size rarely seen in Europe. 

 As a spring salad the young shoots and leaves of Watercress have been used from time 

 immemorial. They are stated to have been eaten by the ancients along with lettuces, to 

 counteract the coldness of the latter by their warm and stimulating properties, and at 

 the present day they are found upon almost every table, the popular l)elief being, that 

 when eaten fasting, they possess the property of exciting the appetite, and acting as a 

 powerful anti-scorbutic. The first attempt in Eurojie to cultivate Watercresscs by arti- 

 ficial means was made by one Nicholas Meissner at Erfurt, the capital of Upper Thuringia, 

 about the middle of the sixteenth century. The soil and other circumstances being 

 favourable for their growth, the experiment proved successful, and the Watercresscs of 

 Erfurt soon acquired, for their superior quality, that celebrity which they still maintain ; 

 most of the cities on the Rhine, as well as the markets of Berlin, 120 miles distant, 

 being constantly supplied with them. In the neighbourhood of London the culti- 



