LETTER XXIX. 



THE MIGNONETTE TRIBE DISK THE CAPER TRIBE. 



Plate XXIX. 



One of the first flowers that we learn to oather — 

 the very last that we cease to value — is Miononette, 

 that simple, unattractive weed, which is the envy of 

 the gay and glittering throng that surrounds it in a 

 garden, and which has no rivalry to dread, except from 

 the Rose and the Violet. We are delighted wath its 

 fi'ao-rance, but we seldom think of asking- whether, 

 beneath the green and brown colours of its flowers, 

 there may not lurk some hidden beauties equally de- 

 ser^-ing- of admiration. It is one of the advantages 

 of Botany, that it of necessity leads us to such in- 

 quiries. Let us look into its history and structure. 



Mujnonette (Reseda odorata) is generally reputed 

 to be a native of Eg^^Dt and Barbary ; but the only 

 certain station for it is in the sandy country about 

 Mascara, a fortified town of Algiers ; writers on the 

 Botany of Eg^-pt make no mention of it. We find it 

 in our gardens to be annual, sowing its seeds spon- 

 taneously, and springing up year after year wherever 

 it has once been cultivated ; but in reality it is a half- 

 shrubby plant, like a wall-flower, and will live a long 

 while, if protected from cold in the winter. I once 



