234 RESEDACE.E. [Reseda. 



ORD. 64. RESEDACEJL Lindl. Mignonette Family. 



Flowers included within a many-parted involucre, neuter on 

 the outside, hermaphrodite in the centre. Calyx 1-sided un- 

 divided, glandular. Barren stamens of the sterile florets 

 linear, petaloid. Fertile stamens perigynous, definite ; filaments 

 erect ; anthers 2-celled, opening longitudinally. Ovarium ses- 

 sile, 3-lobed, 1 -celled, many-seeded, with three parietal pla- 

 centa?. Stigmata 3, glandular, sessile. Fruit dry and mem- 

 branous, or succulent, opening at the apex. Seeds several, 

 reniform, attached to three parietal placentae; embryo taper, 

 arcuate, without albumen ; radicle superior. Herbaceous plants, 

 with alternate leaves, the surface of which is minutely papillose. 



1. RESEDA. Linn. Rocket. 



Fruit dry, many-seeded, surrounded by the withered involucre. 

 Name from resedo, to calm ; from some supposed medical 

 qualities. Dodecandria. Trigynia. 



1. R. Luteola, Linn. Dyers Rocket, Yellow-weed* or Weld. 

 Leaves lanceolate, undivided ; involucre in four segments. 

 Lindl. Syn. p. 219. Br. Fl. \. p. 218. E. Fl. v. ii. p. 317. 

 E. Bot. I. 320. 



Waste, gravelly, or sandy places. Fl. July. 0. 2 3 feet high, 

 branched. Racemes long, of numerous yellowish flowers, with promi- 

 nent stamens. Capsules broad, depressed. Used in dying- woollen 

 stuffs yellow. 



2. R. lutea, Linn. Base Rocket, Wild Mignonette. Leaves 

 deeply 3-lobed, lower ones pinnatifid ; involucre in six divisions. 

 Lindl. Syn. p. 219. Br. Fl. 1. p. 218. E. Fl. v. ii. p. 348. 

 E. Bot. t. 321. 



Dry gravelly banks. On the side of Knockmaroon-hill, near Cha- 

 pelizod. Abundant on the road-side between Oldcastle and the Abbey 

 of Fore ; Rev. Mr. Halpin. FL July, Aug. Ii. Leaves very varia- 

 ble, some bipinnatifid. Flowers deeper yellow than the last. Capsule 

 oblong, wrinkled. 



3. It. fruticulosa, Linn. Shrubby base Rocket. Leaves all 

 pinnated, waved, glaucous ; involucre 5-parted ; barren stamens 

 five, nearly equal, trifid. Br. FL 1. p. 218. Sm. in Rees 

 Cycl E. Bot. Suppl. t. 2628. 



I first observed this plant growing by the way-side between Cork 

 and Glenmire in 1805, and the following year on the banks of the Dod- 

 der and near Dundrum ; a few years after it was found covering a ditch- 

 bank at Portmarnock, where it has continued to grow in great abun- 

 dance ever since. In all cases it has probably been introduced from 

 gardens, or otherwise ; it being a well known plant in gardens as the 



