DRY FIELDS— WASTE PLACES-WAYSIDES 179 



and toothed, deeply cut at base, rounded at apex. Time, 

 spring and summer, i to 2 feet high. 



Sepals, petals, and stamens as in others of the mustard fam- 

 ily. Pod, linear, round or somewhat 4-sided. Flowers in ter- 

 minal, long racemes, the pods below, yellow blossoms above. 



7. Dyer's-weed, or W^eld. Wild Mignonette 



Reseda Luteo/a (from resedo, to calm, it being supposed 

 to possess sedative properties). — Family, Mignonette. Color, 

 dull, greenish yellow. Leaves, alternate, lance - shaped, with 

 glands for stipules. Time, summer. 



Calyx, 4-parted. Corolla of 4 petals. The upper one 3 to 

 S times cut, the 2 side petals 3-divided, the lower one entire. 

 Stamens numerous on a fleshy disk. The small flowers grow 

 in long, narrow, stiif spikes. 



This is not very common, although a roadside plant. Height, 

 2 feet. " Used," says Dr. Gray, " for dyeing yellow." A European 

 importation. The fragrant mignonette of the gardens is reseda 

 odorata. 



8, Common Blue Violet 



V)ola palmata. — Family, Violet. Color, blue or purple. 

 Leaves, all from the root, the earlyleaves roundish or heart- 

 shaped ; later ones variously lobed and divided. Time, May. 



Sepals, 5-eared at base. Petals, 5, one of them spurred at 

 base. Stamens, somewhat united ; 2 of them with spurs ex- 

 tending into the spur of the corolla. Style and stigma, i.. 

 Flowers on leafless stems, springing from a rootstock, sur- 

 rounded by leaves. 



9 



Variety cucullhta is our commonest blue violet. 



It is found from the arctic regions to the Gulf of Mexico and 

 westward, almost to the Pacific. 



