6k | RESEDACE® (Harv.) [Oligomeris. 
summit, with 3-6 parietal placenta, and numerous ovules. Stigmas 
sessile. Fruit a gaping, dry or succulent capsule, or apocarpous. Seeds 
reniform, without albumen. Hmbryo curved : radicle next the hilum. 
Herbaceous or suffruticose small plants, mostly glabrous ; with alternate, exsti- 
pulate, entire or pinnatifid leaves, and racemose or spiked inflorescence. lowers 
minute ; the petals frequently shorter than the sepals, white or greenish. 
This Order consists of a few weeds inhabiting the temperate zones of both hemi- 
heres ; about 50 species are known. Only two are of any celebrity ; the mignionette 
(Reseda odorata ), a native of the shores of the Mediterranean ; and the Weld ( Re- 
seda luteola) formerly much cultivated for its yellow dye in England, where it is a 
common weed. The few Cape plants of the Order are found on the Karroos. 
I. OLIGOMERIS. Cambess. 
Calyx 4-5-parted, the segments sometimes unequal. Petals two, 
alternate with the posterior sepals, flat, simple (not lobed), without 
appendage, separate, or confluent at base. Hypogynous disc none. 
Stamens 3-8, hypogynous ; filaments subulate, flat, united at base into 
a cup, persistent ; anthers deciduous. Ovary unilocular, 4 angled, with 
4 conical points ; placente 4, parietal ; ovules numerous. Capsule 
membranous, inflated, open at the summit, 4-horned. Lndl. Gen. No. 
5012. Resedella, Webb. d: Bert. Ellimia, Nutt. Holopetalum, Turcz. 
Small, glabrous, slightly fleshy, annual or perennial plants, sometimes suffruticose 
at base. Leaves very narrow, undivided, not obviously veined. Flowers minute, 
white, in terminal spikes, bracteate. The few known species are widely scattered, 
being found in N. & S. Africa, the Canary Islands, Tropical Asia and California. 
From Reseda it is known by wanting the large fleshy disc, and by having undivided, 
uncrested petals. Turczanninow separates all the Cape species except O. Dregeana, 
to form his genus, Holopetalum, distinguished by more numerous and equally distri- 
buted stamens. But the number of stamens, in Reseda itself, and indeed in all the 
known genera of the Order, is notoriously variable, and this character seems insuf- 
ficient to break up so natural and small a group. The name is compounded of ~ 
oAryos and wepis, in allusion to the d 5h thous 
of Reseda. i e depauperated flowers, as compared with t 
Sub-genus 1. ResepEnia. Stamens 3-4, unilateral. 
1. 0. Dregeana (Presl. Bot. Bem. p. 8); diffuse or decumbent, 
flexuous ; leaves linear, elongate, subacute, with fascicles of smaller 
leaves in their axils; bracts longer than the flower, subulate ; sepals 
subulate, acute, as long as the lanceolate petals ; stamens three or four, 
unilateral. Reseda dipetala, E. Mey.! in Herb. Drege. 
Has. Zwartkey, by the River, 4000ft. Dec. Drege! (Herb. T.C.D,, Hook. Sond.) 
densely clothed with leaves, which have usually innovations in their 
axils. Leaves 3 inch long, sligh i i 
ne ¢ , Slightly tapering at base and somewhat glaucous. Spikes 
rather lax, elongating, wer bracts leaflike, much longer than the flowers, upper 
oe er shorter. Sepals veiny, with membranous edges. Stamens shorter than 
cs &: Howoretatum, Stamens 6-8, equally distributed. 
- 9. capensis (Thunb. Cap. p. 402) ; erect and virgate, or diffusely 
phic ts and flexuous ; leaves se Ee or subacute ; spikes elon- 
ct 3 bracts much shorter than the flowers; sepals s, elliptic- 
~ ae or ri ate, albo-marginate ; petals linear-oblong, very blunt, twice 
ong as the sepals ; stamens 6-8, equally distributed. Holopetalum 
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