88 



THE MIGNIONETTE FAMILY. 



branched, with a few stiff hairs on the 

 base of the stem. Leaves pinnately di- 

 vided or lobed, the terminal segment 

 large, obovate or oblong, and rough with 

 short hairs ; the upper leaves often nar- 

 row and entire. Flowers of the size of 

 those of the Charlock, the calyx very 

 erect, the petals either white, with co- 

 loured veins, or pale yellow, or lilac. 

 Pod usually 1 to 1| inches long, nearly 

 cylindrical when fresh, and terminating 

 in a long, pointed or conical style, when 

 dry more or less furrowed longitudi- 

 nally, and often separating in joints be- 

 tween the seeds. 



A common weed of cultivation, 

 throughout Europe and Russian Asia, 

 except the extreme north, and equally 

 abundant in Britain. Fl. summer and autumn. A seacoast variety, 

 particularly abundant round the Mediterranean, but extending up the 

 shores of western Europe to those of England, Ireland, and southern 

 Scotland, has been distinguished as a species, under the name of R. 

 maritimus (Eng. Bot. t. 1643). 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, etc., occur also 

 on inland specimens, at least on the Continent. 



Fig. 111. 



VII. THE MIGNIONETTE FAMILY. RESEDACE^. 



A small family, limited in Britain to the single genus Mi- 

 gnionette. 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. 



I. MIGNIONETTE. EESEDA. 



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, united at the base. Petals as many, 

 small, narrow, and some or all of them deeply divided. Stamens in- 



