Angiosperms (Flowering Plants) • Earth.com

Dwarf nasturtium

(Tropaeolum minus)

galery
en

Description

Tropaeolum minus, the dwarf nasturtium is a species of perennial plant in the Tropaeolaceae family. It is endemic to mountainous regions of Ecuador and Peru. Tropaeolum commonly known as nasturtium ("nose-twister" or "nose-tweaker"), is a genus of roughly 80 species of annual and perennial herbaceous flowering plants. It was named by Carl Linnaeus in his book Species Plantarum, and is the only genus in the family Tropaeolaceae. The nasturtiums received their common name because they produce an oil similar to that of watercress (Nasturtium officinale). The genus Tropaeolum, native to South and Central America, includes several very popular garden plants, the most common being T. majus, T. peregrinum and T. speciosum. One of the hardiest species is T. polyphyllum from Chile, the perennial roots of which can survive the winter underground at altitudes of 3,300 metres (10,000 ft). Plants in this genus have showy, often intensely bright flowers and rounded, peltate (shield-shaped) leaves with the petiole in the centre. The flowers are bisexual and zygomorphic, with five petals, a superior three-carpelled ovary, and a funnel-shaped nectar spur at the back, formed by modification of one of the five sepals. Tropaeolum is a genus of dicotyledonous annual or perennial plants, often with somewhat succulent stems and sometimes tuberous roots. The alternate leaves are hairless, peltate, and entire or palmately lobed. The petioles or leaf stalks are long and in many species are able to twine around other stems to provide support. The flowers are bisexual and showy, set singly on long stalks in the axils of the leaves. They have five sepals, the uppermost of which is elongated into a nectar spur. The five petals are clawed, with the lower three unlike the upper two. The eight stamens are in two whorls of unequal length and the superior ovary has three segments and three stigmas on a single style. The fruit is naked and nut-like, with three single seed segments. Tropaeolum was first imported into Spain by the Spanish botanist Nicolás Monardes, who described it in his Historia medicinal de las cosas que se traen de nuestras Indias Occidentales of 1569, translated into English as Ioyfull newes out of the newe founde worlde by John Frampton. The English herbalist John Gerard reports having received seeds of the plant from Europe in his 1597 book Herball, or Generall Historie of Plantes.

Taxonomic tree:

Domain:
Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Magnoliophyta
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order:Brassicales
Family:Tropaeolaceae
Genus:Tropaeolum
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