Dewy "Nasturtium" but really Tropaeolum majus. Oude Hortus, Utrecht, The Netherlands

            Abraham Munting (1626-1683) - the second professor of Botany at the university here in Groningen - published a wonderful book of plant descriptions for horticultural purposes in 1671/1672: Waare Oeffening der Planten. A dedicatory poem calls the book 'Des Werrelds Tuin' (The World's Garden). It is indeed a 'garden of a book' for it has 40 stunning engravings, colored-in in some copies. No, our Tropaeolum is not among them, but Munting does wax eloquent over the beauty of the flowers of what he calls 'Nasturtium indicum'. He regrets that in these northern climes there are often more leaves than flowers. His remedy is to plant our flower in a pot so that the roots are confined, yield less to the leaves and stimulate the growth of flowers. Other contemporary authors as late as the early nineteenth century (in Curtis's Botanical Magazine) hope that they will become used to the North-European climate..., as indeed they seem to have done today. 
Munting treats this plant together with Cardamine (Cardamindum), as do authors before and after him. And a host of other names are applied too. It's just as well that Carolus Linnaeus (1738) decided once and for all to end this mix-up. Let's not use 'fake' words like Cardamindum or nasturtium... To end the confusion, 'I've named it Tropaeolum because gardeners generally make a pyramid-shaped climbing net for these plants'. He was reminded of Greek trophy-trees in Antiquity by the shield-shaped leaves of 'Nasturtium' and the flowers looking from the side like helmets.
But I think I''lll continue to use 'Nasturtium' for fear of else having to explain the 'real' name each time I wax eloquent about their beauty.
On a splendid Sunday, this bedewed Nasturtium was Orange in the Sun in the Oude Hortus of the university at Utrecht.
(Incidentally, in Dutch this plant is commonly called 'Oost-Indische kers'; this is due to a confusion with regard to the name 'Nasturtium indicum': 'indicum' indeed refers to the East Indies [rather more than less present-day Indonesia] but it is also used for the West Indies and by extension for Peru where Tropaeolum originates.)
   

Taken in: Nederland / Utrecht / Utrecht (show map)

Taken on: October 9, 2010

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Abraham Munting

Des Werrelds Tuin, Groningen, The Netherlands

Nasturtium

Tropaeolum majus

Cardamine

Oost-Indische kers

Peru

Cardamindum

Carolus Linnaeus

Nasturtium indicum

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Camera: Sony DSC-HX1, f/3.2, 1/160 sec, 5mm, ISO 125 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Sony DSC-HX1
Aperture:	f/3.2
Exposure Time:	0.006 sec (1/160)
Focal Length:	5mm
ISO:	125
Exposure Bias:	0 EV
Flash:	Off, Did not fire
Exposure Program:	Program AE
Exposure Mode:	Auto
Metering Mode:	Multi-segment
White Balance:	Auto
Color Space:	sRGB
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