24 THALAMIFLOKvE. 



species indigenous to the West Indies; the greater number 

 being natives of temperate regions. This is, as De Candolle 

 remarks, an order eminently European. The localities of the 

 different species are very various. Some .delight in open 

 sandy plains ; others in alpine regions, bordering the line of 

 perpetual snow, marking the extreme limits of vegetation. Not 

 a few establish themselves in the vicinity of the habitations of 

 man, following him in his migrations, and like him becoming 

 established in every quarter of the globe. The general pro- 

 perties of the Crucifera? are stimulating and acrid, depending 

 on an oily volatile principle, the characters of which have not 

 as yet been completely made known to us by Chemistry. From 

 being stimulant, they excite, when taken internally, the digestive 

 organs, and are peculiarly useful in removing their torpid and 

 impaired action which prevails in Scurvy. Hence all of the 

 Cruciferce have the character of being Antiscorbutic. They are 

 also Diaphoretic and Diuretic, and, in the case of the white 

 mustard-seed, Emmenagogue. 



I. NASTURTIUM. Cress. 



Pod nearly cylindrical (sometimes short) ; valves 

 concave, neither nerved nor keeled. Cotyledons ac- 

 cumbent, (O = ). Calyx patent. Brown. 



Herbaceous and generally aquatic plants. The species are 

 more widely diffused than is usual with the Cruciferse. The 

 name is derived from NASUS the nose, and TORTUS convulsed, 

 from the effect produced on that organ by the acrid pungent 

 quality of these plants. 



1. Nasturtium officinale. Water-cress. 



Leaves pinnated, leaflets ovate subcordate sinuato- 

 dentate. 



S/oane, I. 193 Browne, 272 Sisymbrium nasturtium, 

 Eng.FL 192. Eng. Bot. t, 855. Nasturtium officinale, Br. 

 Hort. Kew. IV. 110. De Cand. Syst. II. 188. 



HAB. Brooks and marshy grounds in the mountains, and in 

 cool shady situations. 



FL. April May. 



In some of our Jamaica specimens, the leaflets are suboppo- 

 site, 4-paired with an odd one, oblong, subcordate and unequi- 

 lateral at the base, (the lowest side being the largest and sub- 

 auriculated,) rounded, somewhat retuse at the apex, sinuato- 

 dentate ; the terminal leaflet is also not larger than the pair 

 next to it, although the innermost pair is much smaller. In 

 these respects they agree with the variety 7 of De Candolle, 

 described by Ruiz and Pavon as a native of Chili. These 



