76 VIOLACE^E. (VIOLET FAMILY.) 



1 . P. grav&olens, Raf. Leaves with 3 oblong leaflets ; stamens about 

 11, scarcely exceeding the petals : style short ; pod slightly stipitate. Gravelly 

 shores, from Connecticut (near Hartford) and W. Vermont to Wisconsin and 

 Kentucky. June - Aug. Flowers small : calyx and filaments purplish : 

 petals yellowish- white. 



ORDER 12. RESEDACE JE. (MIGNONETTE FAMILY.) 



Herbs, with unsymmetrical 4 - 1-merous small flowers, a fleshy one-sided 

 hypogynous disk between the petals and the (3 - 40) stamens, bearing the 

 latter. Calyx not closed in the bud. Pod 3 - 6-lobed, 3 - 6-horned, l-celled 

 with 3-6 parietal pla.centce, opening at the top before the seeds (which are 

 as in Order 11) are full grown. Leaves Alternate, with only glands 

 for stipules. Flowers in terminal spikes or racemes. A small and un- 

 important family, of the Old World, represented by the Mignonette 

 (Reseda odorata) and the Dyer's Weed. 



1. RESEDA, L. MIGNONETTE. DYER'S ROCKET. 



Petals 4-7, cleft, unequal. Stamens 12-40, on one side of the flower. 

 (Name from resedo, to calm, in allusion to supposed sedative properties.) 



1. B. LUTEOLA, L. (DYER'S WEED or WELD.) Leaves lanceolate; 

 calyx 4-parted ; petals 4, greenish-yellow ; the upper one 3 - 5-cleft, the two 

 lateral 3-cleft, the lower one linear and entire ; pods depressed. Roadsides, 

 New York, <fcc. Plant 2 high. Used for dyeing yellow. (Adv. from Eu.) 



ORDER 13. VIOLACE^E. (VIOLET FAMILY.) 



Herbs, with a somewhat irregular 1-spurred corolla of 5 petals, 5 hy- 

 pogynous stamens with adnate introrse anthers conniving over the pistil, and 

 a l-celled 3-valved pod with 3 parietal placentce. Sepals 5, persistent. 

 Petals imbricated in the bud. Stamens with their short and broad fila- 

 ments continued beyond the anther-cells, and often coherent with each 

 other. Style usually club-shaped, with the simple stigma turned to one 

 side. Valves of the capsule bearing the several-seeded placentae on their 

 middle : after opening, each valve as it dries folds together lengthwise 

 firmly, projecting the seeds. Seeds anatropous, rather large, with a hard 

 seed-coat, and a large and straight embryo nearly as long as the albu- 

 men : cotyledons flat. Leaves alternate, with stipules. Flowers axil- 

 lary, nodding. (Roots slightly acrid or emetic.) Two genera in the 

 Northern United States. 



1. SO LEA, Ging., DC. GREEN VIOLET. 



Sepals not prolonged at the base. Petals nearly equal in length, but 

 the lower one larger and gibbous or saccate at the base, more notched than 

 the others at the apex. Stamens completely united into a sheath enclos- 



