678 RESEDA. [CLASS XI. ORDER III. 



ORDER III. 



TRIGY'NIA. 3 Pistils. 



GENUS IV. RESE'DA Rocket. Mignonette. 



Nat. Ord. RESEDA'cEJi;. De Cand. 



Gen. Char. Calyx persistent, of one piece, many partite. Petals 

 more or less divided, and unequal. Stamens ten to twenty. 

 Capsule three or six angled, bursting at the apex. Seeds nume- 

 rous, kidney- shaped. — Name from Reseda, to calm; from the 

 supposed qualities of some of the species. 

 1. R. Lute'ola, Linn. (Fig. 775.) Dyer's Rocket, Yellow Weed, or 

 Weld. Leaves elongate, lanceolate, undivided; calyx four cleft ; stem 

 erect. 



English Botany, t. 320.— English Flora, vol. ii. p. 347. — Hooker, 

 British Flora, vol. i. p. 220.— Lindley, Synopsis, p. 219. 



Root tapering. Stem erect, from two to three feet high, simple or 

 branched, leafy, smooth, striated. Leaves numerous, sessile, of a dark 

 somewhat glaucous green, long, narrow, lanceolate, with a mid-rib and 

 indistinct lateral veins, the margins entire, smooth or waved, and fre- 

 quently at the base on one or both sides is a short tooth. Inflorescence 

 an elongated terminal spike of numerous crowded flowers, on short 

 pedicles from the axis of an awl-shaped hractea. Calyx of four oblong 

 segments. Corolla greenish yellow, irregular, of three or five petals, 

 the upper one three cleft, with the middle lobe notched, the lateral ones 

 three cleft, and the lower ones when present simple linear. Necta- 

 riferous scale large, greenish on the upper side of the flower, the 

 margin crenated. Stamens on slender filaments, with two celled 

 yellow anthers. Styles short. Capsule short, depressed, three celled, 

 tuberculous. Seeds numerous, roundish, kidney-shaped, smooth, 

 shining. 



Habitat. — Waste places frequent, especially in a calcareous or clay 

 soil. 



Annual ; flowering in June and July. 



This and the leaves of several other species have been valued by the 

 ancients as possessing great power in allaying the irritation and pain 

 of bruised or wounded and inflamed parts, hence it is that the plants 

 of this description have attained their generic name. The R. luteola, 

 or Weld, afi'ords when bruised a juice, which dyers employ in tinging 

 silk, cotton, linen, woollen goods, &c,, of a yellow colour ; and 

 blue cloths, &c., are changed by it into various shades of green or 



