nasturtium

noun

Etymology: From Middle English nasturcium, from Old English nasturcium (“watercress”), from Latin nasturtium.

1. The popular name of any of the plants in the Tropaeolum genus of flowering plants native to south and central America.

   “To me a nasturtium by the river brink is more than a simple flower. It is a broader, grander, more magnificent, more stupendous symbol. It may mean anything, everything—such as sunsets and conflagrations and Götterdämmerungs!”

   “Drenched were the cold fuchsias, round pearls of dew lay on the flat nasturtium leaves.”

2. A plant in this genus, garden nasturtium (Tropaeolum majus).
3. Any of the plants in the genus Nasturtium that includes watercress.