CLASS XI. ORDER III.] RESEDA. 679 



olive, it is also largely used in the production of the paint called 

 Dutch pink. In some parts of the country it is cultivated for these 

 purposes, and is used either when dried or fresh gathered. 



2. R. lu'tea, Linn. (Fig. 776.) Base Rocket, Wild Mignonette. 

 Leaves three cleft, or pinnatifid, the lower ones pinnated ; calyx with 

 six linear segments; petals six, very irregular. 



English Botany, t. 321. English Flora, vol. ii. p. 348. Hooker, 

 British Flora, vol. i. p. 220. Lindley, Synopsis, p. 219. 



Root woody. Stems several from the same root, erect, from two to 

 three feet high, roundish, striated, smooth, or scattered over with hairs, 

 simple or branched, leafy. Leaves scattered or alternate, the upper 

 three cleft, or pinnatifid, the lower ones irregularly pinnated, with long 

 narrow linear entire or waved or crisped on the margin, with a pro- 

 minent mid-rib, and smooth, or scattered over with a few hairs. 

 Inflorescence a terminal elongated spike, of numerous crowded flowers, 

 on short pedicles, becoming longer in fruit, arising from the axis of an 

 awl-shaped bractea. Calyx of six partite narrow long linear spreading 

 segments. Corolla very irregular, of six petals, the two upper ones 

 three cleft, the middle lobe narrow, short, the lateral one winged with a 

 curled margin, the lateral petals of two unequal narrow lobes, and the 

 two lower petals simple, linear, entire. Nectariferous scale large, 

 greenish on the upper side of the flower, the margin crenated. Stamens 

 on slender filaments, with large yellow anthers, of two cells. Styles 

 short. Capsule ovate oblong, three celled, wrinkled. Seeds numerous, 

 smooth, kidney-shaped. 



Habitat. Waste places in a calcareous or clay soil. 



Annual or Biennial ; flowering in July or August. 



This species is readily distinguished from the last, by its larger 

 yellower six-partite flowers, and its pinnatifid leaves. 



The Reseda odorata, or Sweet Mignonette, is a well known and 

 general favourite, not so much for the beauty of the flower or plant, 

 as for the rich odoriferous scent which it exhales, and it is of so hardy 

 a nature that it will grow under almost every variety of condition; it 

 is sown upon the open borders; will grow freely in pots, boxes, &c., 

 and with care and attention in its cultivation may be had in perfection 

 all the year round, and by pruning and training it under a warm wall, 

 it becomes perennial, and even ptitescent, and then it is called the Tree 

 Mignonette. These changes which are effected by cultivation in the 

 constitution of plants effecting not only their growth, but their medi- 

 cinal qualities, and the odoriferous secretions which they exhale, are 

 alike interesting to the botanist, the gardener, and all \vho study 

 Nature's works; for, as Wordsworth says 



" Happy is He who lives to understand 

 Not human nature only, but explores 

 AH natures, to the end that he may find 

 The law that governs each ; and where begins 



