188 RESEDACE^. Reseda. 



Fruit mostly capsular, but not splitting into valves. Seed-coat crustaceous. — 

 Natives of the Old "World : several naturalized [and one doubtfully indigeuousj 

 in the New. 



1. RESEDA. Sepals and petals 4 to 8, unequal ; the latter unguiculate, 2-many-cleft, and 

 the claws of some or all of tlieni dilated and internally appendaged at base. Stamens 10 to 

 40, inserted on a concave posteriorly dilated torus or disk. Ovary of 3 to 6 carpels united 

 to near the tips, forming a 3-6-beaked capsule, which dehisces only at the beaks. 



2. OLIGOMERIS. Sepals 4, or 2 to 5. Petals 2, posterior, without claws or appendages, 

 entire or repandly 2-3-toothed at apex. No dilated torus or disk. Stamens 3 to 10. Ovaiy 

 and capsule of Reseda. 



1. RESEDA, Tourn. (Old Latin name, from resedo, to assuage.) — Inst. 



423, t. 238; L. Gen. no. 447 ; Muell. Arg. Monogr. Resed. 96; DC. Prodr. xvi. 



555. — A genus of about 50 Old World species. 



R. odorAta, L., a N. African species is the Mignonette of the gardens. 



R. Phyteuma, L., which, like the Mignonette, has foliaceous persistent sepals, occurs in 



Philadelphia and New York ballast grounds. 



R. LuTEOLA, L. (Yellow-weed, Dyer's Rocket, Dyer's Weed.) — A tall strict biennial 

 glabrous, leafy : leaves entire or with undulate-crisped margins, lanceolate to linear : flowers 

 very numerous in a long spike, yellow or yellowish, minutely bracteate : sepals and jietals 4 ; 

 the former- persistent ; latter few-lobed: stameus 25, with long-persistent filaments: capsule 

 broader than high, somewhat toro.se, 3-lobed, 3-pointed ; seeds smooth and shining. — S])ec. 

 i. 448. — Sparingly established along roadsides in N. Atlantic States and California ; fl. 

 summer. (Nat. from Eu.) 



R. LUTEA, L. Rather low biennial, less leafy : leaves irregiilarly pinnately parted or bipin- 

 uatifid, with few linear obtuse lobes : flowers in a close raceme, pale yellow : sepals and 

 petals 6, very unequal : stamens 1 6 to 20 : capsule clavate-oblong, 3-pointed : seeds black. — 

 Spec. i. 449. — Nantucket, Mass., and in ballast grounds. (Sparingl}^ nat. from Eu.) 



R.* ALBA, L.i Tall and rather coarse: leaves pinnatifid with numerous oblong segments, 

 somewhat glaucous : flowers greenish white: petals .5 or 6, all trifid: stamens 12 to 15. — 

 Spec. i. 449. — Waste places and roadsides in a few localities, extending across the continent 

 but scarcely established. (Adv. from Eu.) 



2. OLiIGOMERIS, Camb. ('OXtyos, few, /Aepis, member, i. e. a reduced 

 Reseda.) — Low and glaucous, chiefly annuals (Indo-African), with narrow linear 

 and entire leaves and small greenish flowers in terminal spikes. — Camb. in 

 Jacquemont, Voy. Ind. iv. 23, 24, t. 25; Muell. Arg. in DC. Prodr. xvi. 584. 

 Oligomeris &, Holopetcdum (Turcz.), Muell. Arg. Monogr. Resed. 213, 208.^ 



O.* glaucescens, Camb.^ l. c. Annual or biennial, a span or two high, much branched at 



base into ascending stems : leaves somewhat fleshy : petals oblong, obscurely lobed (some- 

 times united), occupying with the three stamens the posterior side of the flower : capsule 

 depressed-globose, 4-lobed, 4-cuspidate; seeds smooth. — Gray, PI. Wright, ii. 16; Hook. f. 

 Fl. Brt Ind. i. 181. X). dispersa, Muell. Arg. Monogr. Resed. 214. 0. subuluta, Webb, 

 Frag. ^Ethiop. 26 ; Boiss. Fl. Or. i. 435 ; Muell. Arg. in DC. Prodr. xvi. 587 ; Brew. & 

 Wats. Bot. Calif, i. 53. Reseda sulmlata, Delile, Fl ^Egypt. 111. 15 (1813). R. linlfolia, 

 Vahl iu ITornem. Hort. Hafn. 501 (1815). R. dipetaJa, Spreng. Syst. ii. 463. Resedella 

 subidatn & R. dipetala, Webb & Berth. Phyt. Canar. i. 107, t. 11. Ellimia rudendis, Nutt. in 

 Torr. & Gray, Fl. i. 125 (& 669). — Dry grounds, S. California to New Mexico.i (Adj. 

 Mex., Lower Calif., N. Afr., Asia.) 



1 In Dr. Gr.ay's ms. only mentioned as a ballast-weed. 



2 Add syn. bipetalia, Raf. Fl. Tellur. iii. 7-3. 



3 Dr. Gray regarded this plant as introduced in America, but subsequent observations .show it to 

 be jirobably indigenous ; see Parish, Zee, i. 301. 



4 Eastward to El Paso, Te.x., Jones. Add syn. Dipetalia subulata, Kuntze, Rev. Gen. i. 39 ; 

 Coville, Contrib. U. S. Nat. Herb. iv. 68. 



