TROP.EOLUM. 



Sp. PI. 490. Willd. n. 2. Alt. n. 2. Curt. Mag. t. 23. 

 ( Cardamiadum ampliori folio, et majori flore ; Feuill. 

 Peruv. V. 3. 14. t. 8. f. I. Viola indica fcandens, nafturtii 

 fapore, maxima odorata ; Herm. Lugd.-Bat. 628. t. 629.) 

 — Leaves peltate, wavy, with blunt naked angles. Petals 

 obtufe. — From the fame country. Introduced into England 

 in 1686, as appears by the manufcripts of Peter Collinfon. 

 This is now the moll commorJ.y cultivated fpecies, fecn in 

 every cottage garden ; as it rifes, without any care, from 

 felf-fown feeds. "The Jloivers are abundant from June till 

 the whole plant perifhes by the autumnal frofts. This 

 fpecies is larger than the foregoing, efpecially its petals, 

 which are alfo much more rounded and obtufe. A daughter 

 of LinnjEUS is recorded as having obferved a kind of flafliing 

 Lght from thefe flowers in an evening. We have watched 

 for this phenomenon, but know not whether we ever 

 perceived it, or whether our eyes wei-e merely dazzled by 

 theTjrilliancy of the colours. The feejs are hot and pun- 

 gent, much ufed for pickles ; and X\\e Jtowers are often in- 

 termixed with fallad herbs, both for ornament and flavour. 



There is a double-flowered perennial variety cf this 

 fpecies, common in greenhoufes, and readily increafed by 

 cuttings. 



Another variety, with fraall jagged petals, called T. 

 pinnatum in Andr. Repof. t. 535, and Ait. Epit. 375, came 

 up ur.der our infpeftion in a bed of the common 7". majus, 

 and having been immediately fent to Meffrs. Lee and Kennedy 

 at Hammerfmith, in 1800, v.'as preferved, and difperfed by 

 cuttings all over the kingdom. It fcarcely ever attempts 

 to form any feed, and is cultivated juft; like the double kind, 

 on whofe botanical hiftory, and origin, it appears to throw 

 confiderable light. 



3. T. hybridum. Mule Indian-crefs or Nailurtium. 

 Linn. Mant. 64. Willd. n. 3. " Berg. AA. Holm, for 

 1 765. 32. t. I." — Leaves wedge -fliaped, five-lobed, entire, 

 fcarcely peltate. — A variety of the laft, which, according 

 to Linnaeus, fprung up accidentally in a garden at Stock- 

 holm. It rarely produced feed in the Upfal garden, but 

 was propagated by cuttings. A feedling plant however is 

 prefer\'ed in the Linnsean herbarium. The leaves are 

 palmate, but wedge-fhaped at the bafe, deflexed, on very 

 long (lender Jootjlalis, whofe infertion is quite at tlie bottom, 

 nor do we find a fingle leaf in any degree peltate. The 

 neHary is faid to be obtufe ; the corolla fcarcely ever of any 

 determinate form. We retain this as a fpecies, merely in 

 Gonfcrmity to our predeceifors. Its hiftory is prefumed to 

 te authentic ; but a few varieties are more extraordinary. 



4. T. peregrmum. Fringed Indian-crefs or Nafturtium. 

 Linn. Syft. Nat. ed. 10. V. 2. 998. Mant. 2. 371. Hellen. 

 Diff. 18. WiOd. n. 4, excludmg the fynor.ym of Jacquin, 



and perhaps of Feiiillee Leaves peltate, palmate, deeply 



Sve-lobed. Petals all jagged and fringed. Neftary llraight, 

 about twice the length of the corolla. — Native of New 

 Granada, from whence it was fent by Mutis and his pupils 

 to LinnsEUS, who alfo received a garden fpecimen from his 

 friend Duchefne. This fpecies is not known in England. 

 The ha-uei are all (lightly, but uniformly, peltate, with five, 

 rarely feven, deep lobes, various in breadth and acutenefs, 

 the middle one fometimes three-cleft, the two next occafion- 

 ally having a lateral external lobe. Flowers rather fmaller 

 than in T. minus, though the neP.ary is as long, and of the 

 fame taper form, fcarcely curved, and by no means hooked. 

 Petals unequal in fize, jill deeply and irregularly laciniated, 

 with fine capillary fegments. We find thefe fegments vari- 

 able in breadth, like the foliage, in our numerous native 

 fpecimens, but their general afpeft is the fame. Lamarck's 

 t. 277. f. 3, reprefents this plant. Feuillee's plate and de- 



1 



fcription, if good for any tiling, muft belong to a different 

 fpecies, or variety, three of whofe petals are very fmall, and 

 quite entire. His neliary is too imperfeftly drawn for us to 

 determine any character from thence. We have feen in the 

 foregoing fpecies how liable the petals are to the moft extra- 

 ordinary' variation, fo that we dare not, from Feuillee's figure 

 alone, attempt to define his as a diftinft fpecies. 



5. T. aduncum. Hooked Indian-crefs or Nafturtium. 

 Sm. Tour on the Continent, ed. I. v. I. 158. ed. 2. v. i. 

 165. (T peregrinum ; Willd. n. 4. Ait. n. 3. Jacq. 

 Hort. Schoenbr. v. i. 51. t. 98. Andr. Repof. t. 617. 

 Curt. Mag. t. 1351.) — Leaves peltate, palmate, deeply 

 five-lobed. Two petals jagged ; three fmaller fringed. 



Neftary hooked, the length of the larger petals Native 



of Peru. Cultivated in the open air at Gibraltar, where it 

 is called the Canary-bird flower, and perhaps in other parts 

 of Spain. In Germany, England, and even the fouth of 

 France, this is a greenhoufe plant, very tender with us, 

 and feldom. ripening feed. The leaves do not much differ 

 trom the real T. peregrinum, but the JloiLcrs are conftantly 

 very diftinft, nor do any fpecimens or figures, that wc 

 have feen, ftew them to be variable in any degree worthy 



notice. Their calyx 



pale 



ijreeii, wi 



th 



rkably 



hooked fpur, hardly an inch long if it could be ftraightencd. 

 Petals lemon -coloured ; the two uppermoft deeply jaggcc, 

 rarely hair-pointed ; three lower much fmaller, oblong, un- 

 divided, copioufly fringed. Jacquin's figure difplavs a 

 luxuriance of fohage greater than we have met with, fome 

 leaves having feven, more or lefs pinnatind, lobes. There 

 can be no doubt of this being a very difti;i£l fpecies. A 

 figure of it vras drawn for the 30th plate of our Spi'i- 

 legium Botanicum, but that work never proceeded to a third 

 fafciculns, and the figure would now be fuperfluous. 



6. T. pentaphyllum. Five-leaved Indian-crefs or Naftur- 

 tium. Lamarck Diet. v. i. 612. Illuftr. t. 277. f. 2. 

 Willd. n. 5. (T. quinatum ; Hellen. Diff. 20. t. I.) — 

 Leaves quinate ; leaflets ovate, entire, ftalked. Petals un- 

 divided, ftiorter than the fegments of the calyx. — Gathered 

 by Conimerfon at Buenos A^Tes, where this elegant and 

 fmgular fpecies climbs amongft Indian figs, and other 

 fhrubs, according to a manufcript note before us. The 

 Jiem is flender, clothed with numerous, irregularly fcattcred, 

 leaves, on footjlalks an inch or an inch and a half long : 

 hajlets on fhort partial ftalks, acute, all undivided ; the cen- 

 tral one an inch in length ; the two ncareft the italk not 

 half fo large. Flowers numerous, folitary, on axillary 

 ftalks extending rather beyond the leaves. Tube of the 

 calyx above an inch long, conical, deep orange-coloured, 

 contrafted towards the end, which is oval ; fegments about 

 a quarter as long, ovate, acute, green towards the point, 

 two of them prominent, and rather larger than the reft. 

 Petals not difcernible in the flowers we have examined. 

 Profeflbr Hellenius defcribes tht-m " ovate, entire, nearly 

 feffile, a quarter the length of the fegments of the calyx ;" 

 which jmfwers to Lamarck's definition. 



Three more fpecies of this genus are defcr^bed in the 

 Flora Peruviana, one of them having only two petals ; but 

 of thefe no fpecimens have fallen under our infpedion. 



Trop.t:oh."M, in Gardening, furniflies plants of the 

 herbaceous, annual, and perennial, trailing and climbing 

 kinds, among which the fpecies cultivated are the fmall In- 

 dian crefs or nafturtium (T. minus) ; and the great Indian 

 crefs or nafturtium (T. majus). 



In the firft fort, there are varieties with deep orar.ge- 

 coloured flowers inclined to red, with pale yeEow flowers, 

 and with double flowers. 



And in the fecond kind, there are varieties with pale 



yellow 



