THE MIGNONETTE. 



591 



into a bed of light ganlen soil, and covered with 

 a frame till midsummer. By the following 

 autumn, they will be found strong vigorous 

 plants, when they may be taken np, potted singly 

 in very small pots, and placed in the greenliouse, 

 where they will flower beautifully, producing 

 fi'om fifty to eighty blossoms from a single bulb. 

 Tlie round-leaved fcoum) ripens its seeds in 

 May, when they should be immediately sown 

 in pots, and kept in the greenhouse, where they 

 will flower in the following season. 



Verbena. Didj/namiaAiigmpermia, Linn. A 

 family of weedy plants, with the exception of 

 the rose and Lambert's vervain. The officinal 

 or common vervain was held sacred among the 

 ancients, and used at their sacrifices, and by 

 ambassadors in making their leagues and national 

 agreements. The others are pretty lialf hardy 

 perennial garden flowers. They are propagated 

 by cuttings, kept through the winter in small 

 pots, and tlien when tlie frost is over, planted in 

 the open air. Tliey thrive best in a light rich 

 soil, and flower during the summer. 



Mtgnon'ette {reseda odorata) . Natural family 

 rescdacece; dodecandria, trinj/nia, of LinnfEus. 

 The very agreeable odour of tliis little un- 

 pretending plant, has rendered it a universal 

 favourite among all nations and classes. It is a 

 native of Egypt, but bears this climate perfectly 

 well, and brings its seeds to maturity. The 

 inflorescence of this plant, and the family to 

 which it belongs, is somewhat remarkable; and 

 is thus described by Professor Lindley.* "The 

 usual idea of the flower of reseda has been, 

 that it is furnished with a calyx of a varable 

 number of divisions, with as many petals, pro- 

 ducing from their surface certain anomalous 

 appendages; and with nn ovary and stamens, 

 inserted in a great fleshy body, called nectary 

 by Linna?an botanists, squama by others, and 

 raised to the rank of a distinct organ by Mirbel, 

 under the name of gynophore. To us, however, 

 it has always appeared that this could by no 

 means be the real structure of the plant, and 

 that liy a slight alteration of terms, it not only 

 might be much more satisfactorily explained, 

 but its real affinity ascei-tained with some degree 

 of piobabilit\'. For even allowing for a moment 

 an analogy between the nectary of this plant, 

 and the discus of others, particularly of some 

 UUaee(S, there is still a great difficulty remaining 

 to be overcome in the anomalous structure of 

 the supposed petals, of which we can imagine 

 no possible explanation. We are therefore of 

 opinion that a much more natural mode of 

 understanding reseda, is to consider it as liaving 

 compound flowers, taking the calyx of anthers 

 for an involucrum, their petals for neutral florets, 

 and their nectary for the calyx of a fertile floret 



* Collcctana Botanica. 



in the middle. In support of this opinion, we 

 maj'' observe, in the first place, that there is a 

 difference in the time of expansion of the neu- 

 tral florets, and of the stamens of the fertile one, 

 the former being quite open in very many 

 capituli before one anther of the latter has 

 burst in a single flower. Secondly, that there 

 is an evident analog}' between the appendages ot 

 tlie neutral florets, and the stamens of the perfect 

 florets, inasmuch as in the mignonette those of 

 the upper sterile florets are of nearly the s;ime 

 number as the real stamens; because, in reseda 

 alba, and some others in which a union of fila- 

 ments takes place in the perfect floret, there is 

 a corresponding, but more complete union of the 

 sterile appendages, and because occasionally in 

 the mignonette, stamens are changed into bodies 

 altogether similar to the sterile appendages; and 

 in reseda pkytemna, the same appearance is 

 always assumed by the perfect stamens, after 

 the anthei-s have performed their functions. 

 Thirdly, that there is an equal analogy between 

 the calyx of the neutral florets, and tliat of the 

 perfect floret; because both have a peculiar 

 glandular margin, the same form, both produce 

 their stamens from their surface; and because 

 the upper edge of the calyx in sterile florets, has 

 the same relation to the axis of each particular 

 head, as that of the perfect floret' has to the axis 

 of the whole inflorescence. Fourthly, that there 

 is no instance of the same analogy existing 

 between the discus and petals of other plants. 

 We may also observe, that in reseda ■phyteuma, 

 there is a campanulate tube to the calyx, into 

 the upper edge of which the stamens are in- 

 serted. 



There is a sub-biennial shrubby variety of 

 the r«s«(7a 0(forato, called tree mignonette, rather 

 more odorous than the common sort, and which 

 is well suited for the drawing room. If left to 

 itself, it scarcely can be distinguished as a dis- 

 tinct variety; but trained against a wall, or to a 

 stick, it may be made to assume a shrubby 

 appearance. 



Mignonette being so much in demand as a 

 chamber flower, it is of importance to have a 

 succession of plants in all seasons. For this 

 purpose, to obtain a winter supply of fresh, strong 

 plants, the seed should be sown in the open 

 ground in the end of July; by the middle of 

 September, the plants from this sowing will be 

 strong enough to be removed into pots. For a 

 week after this removal they must be shaded, 

 after which they may be freely exj)Osed to the 

 sun and air, care being taken to protect them 

 by frames from damage by heavy rains, and 

 from injury by early frosts, until the beginning 

 of November, at which time many of them will 

 show their flowers; and tliey should then be 

 removed to a gi-eenhouse or conservatory, or to 

 a warm window in a duelling house, where they 



