Loddigesiane. Tab. 22. 
RESEDA MEDITERRANEA. 
Nar. Orv. Resedacew, D. C. Theor.; Lindley in Hook. Fl. Scot. 2, 204. Linn. Syst, Dodecandria Trigynia. 
RESEDA, Linn. Flores capitati ; exteriores steriles ; medius fertilis. Lindl. l. c. 
a  — 
Resepa Mediterranea ; foliis integris trilobisque, calycibus flore brevioribus. Jacq. Coll. 1. 147. Ic. Rar. 3. t. 475. 
Pers. Syn. 2. 10. 
Descr. Calis 1}-pedalis, ascendens, angulatus, leviusculus, v. paululum scaber, foliosus. Folia radicalia spathulata, inte- 
gerrima, superiora s. caulina alterna, exstipulata, triloba laciniis lanceolatis, undulatis. Fores luteo-virides, capitellati. Ca- 
pituli in racemo denso, elongato dispositi, pedunculati, involucrati ; involucrum 7-phyllum, foliolis linearibus, carnosis, levius- 
culis. Flosculi exteriores '7, cum foliolis involucri alterni, steriles, luteo-virides, calyce squamiformi, fimbriato, extus stamina 
sterilia, falcata, dilatata gerente, que in flosculis rachi proximis sunt tria, in lateralibus duo, in inferioribus solitaria. Elosculus 
fertilis & medio exseritur ; hujus calyx squamiformis, carnosus, fimbriatus, superné glandulosus, latere superiore (rachi proximo) 
quam maximé dilatato. Stamina 12, in calyce, paulo supra fundum, inserta, deflexa, superiora pauld longiora. Antherae incum- 
bentes, ovate, cristate, antice, 2-loculares, longitudinaliter (superiores primum) dehiscentes. Pollen ellipticum. Ovarium uni- 
loculare, tricorne, glandulis scabrum, turbinatum ; ovula numerosa, primum horizontalia, demim foecundata? appensa, serie, 
externa facie triplici, sed reverd duplici inserta. Styl nulli. Stigmata simplicia sessilia. Capsula ovario simillima sed apice 
per faciem cornuum longé ante seminum maturitatem dehiscens. Semina non vidimus. In Reseda alba semina (A 1 & 2), 
sculptoris incuria in figura reversa, sunt reniformia, appensa, striis parallelis costata, duobus terminis per membranam duplicem 
teste colligatis. Testa sub-crustacea. Embryo seminis cavitati conformis, teres, radiculd superiore cotyledonum longitudine. 
Albumen parcissimum, carnosum. 
caine iSO Eee 
However much our specimen may appear to differ from Jacquin’s figure of his Reseda Mediterranea, we believe 
weare right in referring it to that species, on the authority of a specimen in the Banksian herbarium, in a state in which 
it precisely resembles our plant. Itseems to be very near Reseda lutea, from which it chiefly differs in the absence 
of roughness in the stem, of hairs on the stamens, and of hispidity on the ovarium. Messrs. Loddiges communicated 
the plant from which our figure was taken. | | 
In Dr. Hooker’s Flora Scotica, in characterizing M. Decandolle’s order of Resepacex, we have offered an entirely 
new hypothesis respecting the nature of the floral envelopes of Reseda; but as we had not an opportunity of explain- 
ing our ideas in detail in that work, we shall take the opportunity of doing sonow. The usual idea of the flower of 
Reseda has been that it is furnished with a calyx of a variable number of divisions, with as many petals producing 
from their surface certain anomalous appendages, and with an ovary and stamens inserted on a great fleshy body, 
called nectary by Linnean botanists, squama by others, and raised to the rank of a distinct organ by M. Mirbel ihe 
der the name of Gynophore. To us, however, it has always appeared that this could by no means be the real struc- 
ture of the plant, and that by a slight alteration of terms it not only might be much more satisfactorily explained, but 
its real affinity ascertained with some degree of probability. For even allowing for a moment an analogy between 
the nectary of this plant and the discus of others, particularly of some Trliacee, there is still a great difficulty remain- 
ing to be overcome in the anomalous structure of the supposed petals, of which we can imagine no probable expla- 
nation. 
We are therefore of opinion that a much more natural mode of understanding Reseda is to consider it - having 
compound flowers ; taking the calyx of authors for an involucrum, their petals for neutral florets, and their Aerie 
for the calyx of a fertile floret in the middle. In support of this opinion we may observe ; Firstly, that there is a 
difference in the time of expansion of the neutral florets and of the stamens of the fertile one ; the former being quite 
open in very many capituli before one anther of the latter has burst in a single flower. Secondly, that there is an 
evident analogy between the appendages of the neutral florets, and the stamens of the perfect florets ; inasmuch as 
in Reseda odorata those of the upper sterile florets are of nearly the same number as the real stamens ; because if 
Reseda alba, and some others, in which a union of filaments takes place in the perfect floret, there is a corresponding 
but more complete union of the sterile appendages ; and because occasionally, in Reseda odorata, stamens a 
changed mee bodies altogether similar to the sterile appendages; and in Reseda Phyteuma the same appearance is al- 
