2918 



RENEALMIA 



REST-PERIOD 



terminal or scapose and either paniculate or racemose; 

 fls. white, yellow or red; calyx short, 3-lobed; corolla 

 short-tubed, the lobes erect or finally spreading, sub- 

 equal or the posterior broader and concave; ovary 

 3-celled: caps, globose. About 60 species, Trop. Amer. 

 and a few in Trop. Afr. R. exaltdta, Linn, f ., is recently 

 intro. as a dye-plant; also ornamental, with reddish 

 peduncles and bracts, and yellow fls.: Ivs. like a canna: 

 the fleshy hulls of fr. yield dye and ink. W. Indies. 



RESEDA (from the Latin to calm; 

 said to allude to supposed sedative 

 properties). Reseddceae. One species 

 is grown as a garden annual, and also 

 under glass, for its pleasing fragrance: 

 Mignonette, which see (Vol. IV, p. 

 2049). 



Herbs (sometimes partially woody at the base) with 

 alternate, simple or compound Ivs., and terminal spikes 

 of inconspicuous perfect fls., which have 4-7 small 

 greenish toothed or cleft unequal petals and 8-40 

 small stamens attached on one side of the fl.: pistil 1, 

 ripening into a 3-6-horned or -angled cap. that opens 

 at the top at maturity (Fig. 3363), and contains several 

 to many seeds. Only one species, the common mig- 

 nonette (R. odorata), is generally known, but two or 

 three other species are sometimes grown. Two other 

 species are occasional weeds in the East, R. Luteola, 

 Linn., the dyer's weed (formerly used as yellow dye), 

 1-2 ft. tall, with entire Ivs., 4 or 5 greenish petals of 

 which the lowest one is entire; and R. lutea, Linn., with 

 pinnatifid lys. and petals usually 6; and two or three of 

 the perennial species are more or less recommended 

 as border plants. This genus contains 50-60 species, 

 most of which are native to the Medit. basin, Arabia 

 and Persia. 



A. Lvs. entire or only notched. 



odorata, Linn. COMMON MIGNONETTE. Fig. 3363; 

 also 2372, p. 2049. Branching annual herb, at first 

 upright but becoming wide-spreading and more or less 

 decumbent: Ivs. spatulate or oblanceolate, mostly 

 obtuse, usually entire but sometimes notched: fls. 

 yellowish white, in spicate racemes that become loose 

 and open with age, very fragrant. N. Afr. B.M. 29. 

 Gn. 55, p. 409. Much grown for its strong and agree- 

 able fragrance. It has been greatly modified under 

 domestication. The following garden names seem to 

 belong to this species: arborea, ameliorate, compacta, 

 fximia, gigantea, grandiflora, pyramidalis, multiflora, 



pumila; they represent stature-forms and habit-forms 

 of the horticulturists. Var. suffruticosa, Edw., is 

 woody at the base. B.R. 227. Many named varieties 

 of R. odorata are in the trade. See Mignonette. 



glauca, Linn. Glabrous and somewhat glaucous 

 perennial, less than 1 ft. tall, with many spreading sts.: 

 Ivs. narrow-linear, entire, or 2-toothed near the base: 

 petals 5 or 6, the upper ones 3-lobed; stamens about 14. 

 Pyrenees. Recommended for dry places, as a border 

 plant. See p. 1467. 



AA. Lvs. usually prominently lobed or pinnatifid. 

 alba, Linn. WHITE UPRIGHT MIGNONETTE. Straight- 

 growing erect glabrous annual or biennial, 1-3 ft., 

 weedy: Ivs. numerous, long-stalked, deeply and 

 irregularly pinnatifid, the segms. usually linear and 

 sometimes toothed: fls. greenish white, in a very 

 long slender spike; stamens about a dozen, and petals 

 5-6. S. Eu. G.C. III. 20:45. G.W. 8, p. 255. A com- 

 mendable plant for growing as an ornamental subject 

 in the fl.-border with other plants. It bears many 

 spikes on tall branches, making it a conspicuous 

 plant; treated as a half-hardy annual; odor not pleas- 

 ing. It occurs somewhat in this country as an adven- 

 tive plant. 



crystfillina, Webb. Glabrous, sparingly branched, 

 somewhat glaucous annual: Ivs. usually 3-parted, or 

 the lowest ones entire: fls. deep yellow, in racemes. 

 Canary Isls. Has been offered as a garden annual. 



L. H. B. 



RUSTIC (Latin, rope, alluding to the use made of 

 the plants in S. Afr.). Restidcese. Perennial herbs with 

 a tufted or creeping rootstock, of little horticultural 

 significance: sts. terete, compressed or 4-sided, with 

 remote sheathing If.-sheaths, usually more or less 

 mucronate, sometimes prolonged into a linear blunt 

 If.: male and female infl. similar or dissimilar, spicate, 

 spikes solitary or spikelets numerous in spicate or 

 panicled cymes; fls. dioecious, 1-bracteate; perianth 

 usually of 6, sometimes 4 segms. in 2 rows, rarely none; 

 ovary 2- or 3-celled: caps. 2- or 3-celled, or by abortion 

 1-celled, 1 seed in each cell. About 170 species, half of 

 them from S. W. Afr. the remainder from S. W. Austral. 

 R. subverticillatus, Mast. Sts. erect, 3-4 ft. high, with 

 verticillate branches: sheaths about 1 in. long, coria- 

 ceous, striate above, membranous, spreading, acumi- 

 nate, smaller sheaths foliaceous from beneath a 2-lobed 

 hyaline apex: perianth-segms., male, broadly oblong, 

 the lateral villous-keeled, female broader: caps, 

 obliquely ovate, 1-celled, 1-seeded. S. Afr. G.M. 

 43:76. 



REST-PERIOD IN PLANTS. The rest-period of 

 plants is that period or stage when the part or parts at 

 inaction are incapable of responding to favorable grow- 

 ing conditions. A rest-period of some length, either 

 short or long, appears to be universal with all perennial 

 plant forms. So far as known, none has a continuous 

 growth. Trees and shrubs growing in the open, both in 

 cold and warm climates of the tem- 

 perate zone, may begin to enter the 

 rest-period in some of their branches 

 as early as midsummer. This is indi- 

 cated by cessation of length growth 

 and formation of terminal buds. 

 Some may be ready to grow again in a 

 few weeks, while others are unable to 

 grow for five or six months. Herbace- 

 ous perennials begin their rest after 

 dying down in summer or fall. The 

 death of the aerial parts is accom- 

 panied by the formation of strong 

 crown-buds. They are usually ready 

 3363. Pod of Reseda to resume growth within a few days 

 odorata. ( x2) or weeks, although there are notable 



