EESEDACE^. 245 



acaulescent, the stems mostly very short : peduncles about equalling 

 the leaves : petals 4 —7 lines long, very broad and rouilded above ; the 

 upper deep purple, the others lilac with a yellowish base, the lateral 

 ones bearded, the lowest emarginate : stigma bearded at the sides : ^ 

 capsules obtuse. — In the northern Sierra ; a beautiful species, wrongly 

 described in the " Botany of California " as with yellow lower petals ; and 

 V. molilalia, Kell. is erroneously referred here. It is a small V. lobata. 



Order XLI. RESEDACE>E. 



De Candolle, Theorie Elementaire, 214 (1813). 



Herbs with alternate exstipulate leaves, and terminal racemes or spikes 

 of small nearly colorless but often fragrant flowers. Sepals 4 — 6, often 

 somewhat united at base, uneqiial, herbaceous, persistent, open in the 

 bud. Torus bearing a rounded and glandular hypogynous disk which is 

 produced posteriorly between the petals and the stamens. Petals 4 — 6, 

 open in the bud, the lamina often lacerate or palmately parted. Stamens 

 3 —20, inserted on the disk ; anthers oval, fixed by the middle, introrse. 

 Ovary 1-celled, 3 — 4-lobed, of 3—4 carpels which at apex are distinct and 

 divergent ; stigmas sessile, minute, alternate with the parietal placentae. 

 Fruit membranous, 1-celled, open long before maturity. Seeds reniform, 

 exalbuminous. 



1. RESEDA, Pliaij (Mignonette. Dyer's Weed). Characters of 

 the genus almost those of the order. Two Old World species, fugitives 

 from the flower gardens, are here and there spontaneous with us. 



1. R. AiiBA, Linn. Sp. PI. i. 449 (17.53). A tall stout sparingly branching 

 perennial, with long spikes of whitish flowers : leaves deeply pinnate : 

 sepals 5 or 6 : petals as many, all equal, 3-cleft. 



2. R. ODORATA, Linn. Sp. PI. 2 ed. i. 646 (1762). Annual ; leaves 

 oblanceolate or spatulate, often undulate : spike or raceme short in fl., 

 elongated in fr. : fl. greenish, the large anthers dull red : petals parted 

 into about 6 spatulate-liuear segments. — This, the fragrant Mignonette, 

 far more common in cultivation than the other, is less frequently met 

 with in waste places. 



2. OLIGfOMERIS, Camhessedes. Annual, with narrow linear entire 

 leaves, and very small nearly colorless flowers in terminal slender spikes. 

 Sepals 4, lateral. Petals 2, next the axis, free or united at base, entire or 

 2— 3-lobed, persistent. Disk obsolete. Stamens 3—8 ; filaments united 

 at base. Capsule 4-angled, 4-beaked, qo -seeded. 



1. 0. subulata, Boiss. Fl. Orient, i. 435 (1867) ; Del. Fl. ^gypt. 15 

 (1813), under Reseda: 0. glaucescens, Camb. Jacquem. Voy. iv. 24. t. 25 



