Nasturtium Tattoo Meaning

Generosity, usefulness, and the plant that holds nothing of itself back.

The nasturtium is the bright, wholly useful flower that gives all of itself — its round shield-like leaves and helmet-shaped golden-orange blooms named for the trophies of victory, every part of it edible and peppery, a generous plant of the Andean highlands that holds nothing of itself back. To carry the nasturtium is to carry generosity, usefulness, and the plant that holds nothing back — the wholly edible, useful bloom that gives all of itself, the shield-and-helmet flower of bold advance and victory, the surprising heat hidden in a beautiful flower.

The nasturtium (genus Tropaeolum) is a native of the Andean highlands of South America, especially Peru, where it grew and was cultivated by the peoples of the Inca world long before any European saw it. There it was valued as both food and medicine — its edible leaves, flowers, and other parts used in the diet and in traditional healing — one of the many agricultural and botanical gifts of the rich Andean and Inca farming tradition, the same tradition that gave the world the potato, the tomato, and so many other plants.

The Spanish encountered the nasturtium during their conquest and brought it to Europe in the 16th century, where it spread and became a beloved garden plant. But its origins lie in the Andes, among the Indigenous peoples who first knew, used, and cultivated it as a useful, nourishing, and healing plant. The nasturtium is thus one of the edible gifts of the Inca agricultural tradition to the wider world, carried from the highlands of Peru to gardens across the globe. The Andean nasturtium is the edible, healing plant of the Inca highlands, a gift of Andean agriculture to the world. The Andean nasturtium is the edible gift of the Inca highlands — Tropaeolum, native to the Andean highlands of Peru, grown and used as food and medicine by the peoples of the Inca world long before the Spanish brought it to Europe in the 16th century, one of the edible and healing gifts of the rich Andean and Inca agricultural tradition (alongside the potato and tomato) carried from the highlands to gardens across the globe.

Tropaeolum majus is native to Peru and Bolivia, where it was cultivated by Andean peoples before European contact for food, medicine, and its properties as an antiseptic. The Spanish brought it to Europe in the 16th century, where it was initially used medicinally before becoming a garden ornamental. Linnaeus named it Tropaeolum — from the Greek tropaion (trophy, specifically the trophy erected after a battle, consisting of enemy armor hung on a post) — because he thought the helmet-shaped flowers and shield-like leaves resembled a battlefield trophy. The entire plant is edible: leaves and flowers are peppery (containing glucosinolates that make the plant naturally antimicrobial), and the seeds can be pickled as a caper substitute. The plant was used as a natural antibiotic during WWII in Germany when pharmaceutical supplies were limited.

Nasturtium across cultures

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