50 THE CRUOIFBB FAMILY. [Aaphanui, 



Ireland, and southern Scotland, has been distinguished as R. maritimut, 

 Sm. It has the leaves usually more divided, the pods often longer, 

 and is more apt to last a second year, but all the other characters 

 derived from the colour of the flower, the comparative length of the 

 style and pod, the depth of the furrows, &c., occur also on inland 

 specimens, at least on the Continent. [R. maritimus, Sm., is confined 

 to the sea-coast, and no doubt indigenous ; JR. Raphanistrum is a corn- 

 field plant, the origin of which is doubtful.] 



VII. RESEDACE,ffi. THE MIGNONETTE FAMILY. 



A small family, limited in Britain to the single genus 

 Reseda. The exotic genera, of very few species each, asso- 

 ciated with it, originally formed part of it, but have been 

 separated on account chiefly of the slight differences in the 

 structure of the fruit. 



L RESEDA. MIGNONETTE. 



Herbs, either annual or with a short perennial stock, alternate leaves, 

 no stipules, and small greenish-yellow or white flowers, in long terminal 

 racemes or spikes. Sepals 4 to 6. Petals as many, small, narrow, and 

 some or all of them deeply divided. Stamens indefinite, but not 

 numerous (about 8 to 24), inserted under the ovary on a glandular disk. 

 Ovary single, with short teeth, each terminating in a very short style or 

 sessile stigma. Capsule green, open at the top long before maturity, 

 containing several seeds, arranged along as many parietal placentas as 

 there were styles. Seeds without albumen. 



The species are rather numerous, and chiefly confined to Europe, 

 northern Africa, and western Asia. The narrow, insignificant, divided 

 petals, and open capsule, are sufficient to distinguish them from all 

 other British plants. 



Leaves entire 1. A luteola. 



Leaves cut or divided. 



Petals white, all divided. Leaves pinnate, with many entire seg- 

 ments 8. R. alba. 



Petals greenish-yellow, one or two of them undivided. Leaves 



trind or pinnate, with few segments, often again divided . 2. R. lutea. 



The sweet Mignonette of our gardens (R. odorata) is a native of Egypt, 

 nearly allied to JR. lutea. 



1. R. luteola, Linn. (fig. 114). Weld, YeUow Weed, or Dyer's Rocket. 

 An erect glabrous annual or biennial, with a hard, stiff, scarcely 

 branched stem, 1 to 2 feet high. Leaves linear or lanceolate, 2 to 3 

 inches long, entire, but slightly waved on the edges. Flowers of a 

 yellowish green, in long stiff spikes. Sepals 4. Petals 4 or 5, very 

 unequal, the 1 or 2 lower ones entire, the upper ones divided into 2 to 

 6 lobes. Capsules nearly globular, with 3 or sometimes 4 teeth, and 

 twice as many external furrows. 



In waste places, throughout temperate and southern Europe, from 

 Sweden to the Caucasus. Extends over the greater part of Britain, 

 but decreases northward, although found occasionally as far as Ross- 

 shire. Long cultivated for the use of dyers, it may not improbably be 



