193 
TROPCEOLUM MAJUS VENUSTUM. 
(beautiful large-flowering nasturtium.) 
ORDER, 
MONOGYNIA. 
NATURAL ORDER. 
TROPCEOLE^. 
CrENERic CHARACTER. — Calyx fivc-cleft and spurred. Petals five, unequal. Germen three sided. 
Specific Character.— Annual. Leaves peltate. Petals obtuse. 
Variety Venustum. — Herb annual. Stem round, smooth, and shining. Leaves on long, twisting 
footstalks; round, with from five to seven broad even angles, glaucous, smooth and shining. Flowers 
large and very showy. Calyx greenish orange, striped towards the extremity with red stripes, the 
spur nearly green at the termination. Petals five, nearly equal in size, three lower ones fringed at 
the base. Flowers deep yellow, streaked with bright orange, and having a rich red stripe of an 
irregular branching shape, extending from the base two-thirds of the way up each petal. 
This beautiful Nasturtium is a very suitable plant for pot culture, being of a 
dwarf, and very compact growth, and an exceeding free flowerer. We believe it was 
introduced last year from Ghent by Mr. Knight, King's Road, Chelsea. The plant 
is no doubt quite hardy, and is increased by both cuttings and seeds, as recommended 
for the T. majus atrosanguinea in vol. 1, page 176. 
We are indebted for our figure to the kindness of our friend Mr. Campbell, 
curator of the Manchester Botanic Garden. 
As there are some curious phenomena connected with this genus we will add : — 
SOME OBSERVATIONS ON THE FLASHES OF LIGHT FROM 
FLOWERS. 
BY MR. J. R. TRIMMER, BRENTFORD. 
The power of some plants to emit flashes of light is a subject so curious as to 
be deserving of more investigation than has at present been bestowed upon it. It 
is thus described in a note in Darwin's Botanic Garden, vol. 2, page 144 : " Miss 
E. C. Linnaeus first observed the Tropceolum Majus, or Garden Nasturtium, emit 
I sparks or flashes in the mornings before sun-rise, during the months of June or 
July, and also during the twilight in the evening, but not after total darkness came 
VOL. II. — NO. XXI. c c 
CLASS. 
OCTANDRIA. 
