IV. On a Monstrosity of the Common Mignionette. By Rev, J. S. 

 Henslow, M.A. Professor of JBotany in the University of Cambridge, 

 and Secretary to the Cambridge Philosophical Society. 



[Read May 21, 1832.] 



Having met with a very interesting monstrosity of the common 

 Mignionette {Reseda odorata,) in the course of last summer (1831), 

 I made several drawings of the peculiarities which it exhibited. I beg 

 to present the Society with a selection from these, as I think they may 

 both serve to throw considerable light upon the true structure of the 

 flowers of this genus, which is at present a matter of dispute among 

 our most eminent Botanists, and also tend to illustrate the manner 

 in which the reproductive organs of plants generally, may be con- 

 sidered as resulting from a modification of the leaf. 



It is well known to every Botanist, that Professor Lindley has 

 proposed a new and highly ingenious theory, in which he considers 

 the flowers of a Reseda to be compounded of an aggregate of florets, 

 very analogous to the inflorescence of a Euphorbia. Mr Brown, on 

 the other hand, maintains the ordinary opinion of each flower being 

 simple, and possessed of calyx, corolla, stamens, and pistil. I shall 

 not here enter upon any examination of the arguments by which 

 these gentlemen have supported their respective views, but will refer 

 those who are desirous of seeing them to the " Introduction to the 

 Natural System of Botany, by Prof. Lindley," and to the "Appendix 

 to Major Denham's Narrative, by Mr Brown," My present object will 

 be little more than to describe the several appearances figured in plates 

 1 and 2. 



