The Language of Flowers by Odessa Begay

Author:Odessa Begay
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2020-03-17T00:00:00+00:00

Nasturtium

Tropaeolum majus

A warlike trophy

In ancient Greece and Rome, it was customary for warriors to erect a trophy in the place on the battlefield where they felled an enemy. This usually involved hanging the enemy’s bloodied helmet, shield, and armor from a tree branch or pole. The Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus thought that the leaves of the nasturtium resembled these shields, that the petals were like a golden helmet, and the color, like blood spilled on their armor. He named the flower Tropaeolum majus after the Greek word tropaion, meaning “trophy.”

It was Linnaeus’s daughter Elizabeth who observed that the flowers appear to emit a tiny flashing light right at dusk. Now referred to as the Elizabeth Linnaeus phenomenon, we know it is actually an optical illusion created by the way we perceive the color of the nasturtium against the color of twilight.

During the sixteenth century, Spanish botanist Nicolás Monardes brought the nasturtium from Peru to Europe. In his herbal book, Joyful News out of the Newe Founde Worlde, he described nasturtiums as “flowers of blood” because of their golden color with red streaks resembling blood on the inner petals. The current name, nasturtium, comes from its similarities to watercress, which is called Nasturtium officinale, although the two flowers are unrelated to each other. Other names for nasturtium in Old English include yellow lark’s-heels and Indian cress.

Nasturtium seeds were thought to “possess a great power to repel serpents,” according to the medieval herbal text, De viribus herbarum carmen (1477), attributed to Macer Floridus but possibly written by the Roman poet Aemilius Macer (c. 85–16 BC). It’s unclear whether this was a magical idea related to repelling evil or a practical gardening tip for keeping snakes away.

In the 1889 issue of The Gardeners’ Chronicle, nasturtiums were described as “charming hardy annuals” that are “unrivaled for beauty, effect, and utility.” In the standard Victorian garden, nasturtiums were a mainstay as a climbing plant or to add a pop of color on the lining of a flower bed. They were also considered quite the “nose-twister,” having a “pungent” scent. Victorians liked to cultivate nasturtiums for their peppery flavor and used the flowers and seeds for pickling or ate them fresh in salads. Nasturtiums continue to be popular in food as well as for adding colorful accents to a bouquet of showier flowers.

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