NASTURTIUM 



Ovary.— Three lobes surrounding the base of a single style; in fruit 

 becoming three thick and fleshy closed carpels, each containing a single 

 seed. 



Three hundred years ago, when the free-booting ships of Eng- 

 land were sailing the uncharted seas, one danger and one alone 

 brought fear to the heart of a Drake or a Raleigh— the dread of 

 scurvy among his crew. Consequently 

 plants possessing antiscorbutic proper- 

 ties were eagerly sought in every new- 

 found land. Among such plants was 

 the Small Nasturtium, Tropmolum 

 minus, introduced into English gar- 

 dens from Peru by way of Spain and 

 France before 1596, and cultivated for 

 a hundred years because of the high 

 value placed upon its seeds, which were 

 pickled when full-grovrai but yet green. 

 Owing to the pungent and aromatic 

 juices of the plant it obtained the com- 

 mon name of Indian Cress. The 

 leaves and flowers were used in making 

 salads, and the plant was a denizen of 

 the kitchen garden. About a hundred 

 years after the arrival of the first Nas- 

 turtium came the second, Tropmolum majus, whether to join its 

 smaller brother in domestic service the books do not tell, but 

 the event proves that even if it came to drudge it has remained 

 to reign. For the garden race of Nasturtiums is at base Tro- 

 pmolum majus, modified by cultivation and selection, and possibly 

 hybridized with one or more allied species. The plant is unique 

 in habit, in foliage, and in flower. The circular leaves, each 

 borne upon its stem like a shield on the arm of a soldier, stand- 

 ing close together or slightly overlapping, really make a leafy 

 roof which keeps cool and shaded and dewy a space six inches 

 above the surface either of soil or wall. Out of this shaded re- 

 treat the flowers emerge on slender stems, looking forth with a 



263 



Half of a Nasturtium Flower, 



