Show nasturtium once used as food scurvy remedy nasturtium leaves and seeds were esteemed as foods long before pe people 0 began to appreciate their flowers As far back as the sixteenth century while the ships of the ad ve drake and sir walter raleigh roamed the seven seas it was discovered that nasturtium leaves counteracted scurvy they were also called indian cress and as such nasturtiums are known in in certain parts of the english speaking world to this day in parts of europe people still use the leaves as a salad and pickle the green full grown juicy seeds As in the case of many others among popular garden flowers like marigolds and zinnias kinnias zin nias nasturtiums are true americans states a writer in the new york world telegram history does not record when they first came to mans notice but their discovery dates back to the beginning of the sixteenth century when curious spaniards found them somewhere in peru by the end of the sixteenth century they had been introduced into english gardens by way of spain and france and called colum minus the greek word urn um standing for trophy the circular leaves as they are carried on their stems for all the world resemble the shields carried by the greek soldiers about the year 1690 the original dwarf minus meaning sr small all v variety ari was followed by the stronger growing colum majus still later a species from colombia called colum lobbia num found its way into european gardens it brought with it the dark blood which has enriched this flower with tones of red orange and the deep red browns from these three ance ancestors s are derived all the nasturtiums in cultivation |