124 THE LADIES' FLOWER-GARDEN 
CHAPTER XIII. 
TROPJEOLACEiE. 
made up of three carpels. Style one. Stigmas three, acute. Ovules 
solitary, pendulous. Fruit indehiscent, separable into three pieces 
from a common axis. Seeds large, without albumen, filling the cavity 
in which they lie. 
CiURiCTER or THE Ohder. — Sepals five, the upper one with a long 
distinct spur. Petals five, unequal, irregular ; the upper two sessile 
and remote, arising from the throat of the calyx, the lower three 
stalked and smaller, sometimes abortive. Stamens eight, perigynous, 
distinct. Anthers erect, two-celled. Ovary one, three-cornered. 
Description, &c. — This order is a very small one, containing only the genus Tropseolum and an annual 
plant called Magallena porri/olium, not yet introduced. The name of the order is taken from that of the 
principal genus. All the plants are natives of South America, and they have all tender, rather succulent stems, 
and peltate leaves, which are sometimes entire and sometimes lobed, or five or seven-parted. The flowers are 
generally single, and always so in the tuberous-rooted species. 
GENUS I. 
TROPiEOLUM, Lin. THE NASTURTIUM, OR INDIAN CRESS. 
Lin. Syst. OCTANDRIA MONOGYNIA. 
Gehebio Character. — Calyx five-parted, upper lobe furnished with a spur. Petals five, the lower three mucli smaller than the others, and 
sometimes wanting. Stamens eight, free from the base. 
Description, &c. — This genus was formerly thought to contain only the common annual species and their 
double varieties, two hybrids from T. magus, and three or four tuberous-rooted species which were kept in the 
stove or greenhouse. The discoveries of the last three or four years have, however, greatly enriched this genus, 
which now boasts some of our most beautiful flowers. It is said that the annual kinds may be almost 
considered as perennials, as they may, with care, be preserved during winter in a greenhouse, but all the true 
perennials have tuberous roots. The name of Tropaolum is taken from the Latin word tropcBum, a trophy ; the 
round peltate leaf of the common species being supposed to represent a buckler, and the flower a helmet. 
1.— TROPiEOLUM TUBEROSUM, Ruiz et Pawn. THE TUBEROUS INDIAN CRESS. 
Engrivings. — Bot. Mag. t. 3714 ; Paxt. Mag. of Bot. vol. v. p. 49 j 
and oxafig. 2 in Plate 31. 
Specific Character. — Leaves peltate-nerved, five-lobed, trans- 
versely truncate at the base, smooth. Petals almost the length of the 
calyx. (G. Don.) 
Description, &c. — The flowers of this species are decidedly two-coloured, red and yellow j and very 
handsome. The leaves are decidedly five-lobed, and truncate at the base. The tubers are eatable, and bear 
considerable resemblance to those of the Jerusalem artichoke. The stalks and leaves may be also eaten, and are 
slightly acrid like cress. The flowers are very handsome, but they are seldom produced in the open air ; as, 
unless forced, they do not appear till the latter end of October or November, before which time the stems are 
generally killed, as they are so succulent as to be destroyed by a very slight frost. When it is wished to have 
the plant flower, the tubers should be planted in pots, and brought forward in a hotbed or stove till May, and 
then planted out into a warm border with a southern exposure, and the plant trained against a wall. When the 
plant is grown only for culinary purposes, the tuber* should be planted at once in the open ground, where they 
will grow most luxuriantly, producing an immense mass of leaves and stems in a very short time ; but from their 
