24 
T H A L A M I FLO 1{ AH. 
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 Crucifer* 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 Crucifer*. The 
name is derived from nasus the vose, 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. 
Sloane, I. 193 Browne, 272 Sisymbrium nasturtium, 
Eng. FI. 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 iu 
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 
