Nasturtium

Indian Cress. Capucine, of the French. Tropæolum, sp. et var.

This plant is a native of Peru; and, though generally treated as an annual, is a tender perennial. When cultivated for its flowers or seeds, it should be planted in poor, light soil; but when foliage and luxuriant growth are desired, for the covering of arbors, trellises, and the like, the soil can hardly be made too rich.

The planting should be made in April or May. As the seeds are quite large, they should be covered two inches deep. When planted in drills, they are made three feet apart, and the young plants thinned to six inches apart in the drills. The growing crop may be supported by staking or bushing, as practised with pease; or the taller-growing sorts may be shortened in, which will induce a strong, stocky habit of growth.

While the plants are young, they will require some attention, in order that they may be properly attached to the stakes or trellises provided for their support; after which, little care need be bestowed, beyond the ordinary stirring of the soil, and keeping the ground free from weeds.

Use.—The unexpanded flower-buds, and the seeds while young and succulent, have a warm, aromatic taste, and are pickled and used as capers. The young shoots are eaten as salad; and the flowers, which are large and richly colored, are used for garnishing. Few ornamental plants are better known or more generally cultivated than the Nasturtium.

The species and varieties are as follow:—

Tall Nasturtium.

Tropæolum majus.

Stem from six to eight feet high, succulent; leaves alternate, smooth, rounded,—the leaf-stems being attached to the disc, or under-surface; flowers large, on long stems, yellow,—the two upper petals streaked and marked with purple; the seeds are large, somewhat triangular, convex on one of the sides, of a drab or pale-brown color, and retain their germinative properties five years,—from a hundred and eighty to two hundred are contained in an ounce.

Dark-Flowering.

A variety of the preceding; differing only in the brown color of the flowers. Cultivation and uses the same.

Variegated.

Also a sub-variety of the Tall Nasturtium, with orange-yellow flowers; each of the petals being stained or spotted with purple.

Other varieties occur, differing in color, but equally useful for the purposes before described.

Small Nasturtium.

Dwarf Capucine. Tropæolum minus.

Much smaller, in all respects, than the common Dwarf variety of Tropæolum majus; the stem rarely measuring more than two feet in length, or rising above a foot in height. The flowers are yellow; the lower petals with a blotch of scarlet at their base, and the upper ones delicately striped with the same color.

It yields abundantly; and, though the pods are comparatively small, they are generally preferred to those of the Tall Nasturtium for pickling.