230 



RESEDACE.E. 



with minute deciduous bristles for stipules. Flowers yellow. Sta- 

 mens with long filiform filaments, much exserted. Stipe in fruit 

 refracted upon the pedicel. Pod 2-seeded and didymous; each valve 

 closely contracted upon its seed and falling away with it, therefore 

 like a nutlet. (Dr. A. Wislizenius, who collected in early days in 

 California.) 



1. W. refracta Engelm. Stink-weed. One to 2 or even 6 ft. 

 high; leaflets obovate to oblong, 4 to 9 lines long, rather longer than 

 the petiole; raceme dense, in age usually much elongated; petals 1£ 

 lines long; stamens and ovary exserted; pods 1£ to 2 lines broad, the 

 lobes strongly divergent and crested or toothed at apex, the cells 

 separated by a partition with a single rather large perforation; stipe 

 in fruit 2 to 4 lines long; style persistent and bristle-like. 



Sacramento to Lathrop and southward in the San Joaquin Valley. 

 Not abundant in the Lower San Joaquin twenty years ago as now 

 (Mrs. K. Brandegee). Grows on the white alkali at Travers and 

 Goshen, but appears only once in two years! Greedily visited by 

 bees when in flower. 



40. RESEDACE/E. Mignonette Family. 



Herbs with simple alternate leaves and gland-like stipules. Flowers 

 perfect, irregular, in racemes. Sepals and petals 4 to 7, the latter 

 laciniate. Stamens indefinite, borne on the inside of a fleshy disk, 

 which is enlarged on the upper side. Pistil superior, composed of 3 

 to 6 carpels, 1-celled, with 3 to 6 parietal placenta?, opening at the 

 top before the seeds are full grown. Stigmas 3 to 6, sessile, minute. 



1. RESEDA L. Mignonette. Dyer's Weed. 

 Stamens 8 to 30. Capsule 3 to 6-lobed. horned. (From the Latin 

 resedo, to calm, certain species used as a sedative.) 



Petals deeply cleft into 5 to 8 spatulate segments; leaves entire 



1. R. orlorata. 



Petals 3-cleft at summit; leaves divided 2. It. alba. 



1. R. odorata L. Common Mignonette. Stems decumbent or 

 ascending, 4 to 7 in. high; leaves spatulate-oblong, entire; raceme 

 broad and rather open; flowers very fragrant, 2 lines broad, greenish 

 white; anthers large, brick-red. 



An escape from the gardens. Spontaneous in Marin Co. Apr. 



2. R. alba L. White Mignonette. Leaves pinnate or deeply 

 pinnatifid, the segments linear or oblong; raceme dense, spike-like; 

 flowers nearly or quite white, 2 to 3 lines broad. 



Native of southern Europe: spontaneous acc. to Greene. 



41. VIOLACE^E. Violet Family. 



Herbs with alternate leaves and complete flowers. Sepals 5. 

 Corolla irregular, consisting of 5 somewhat unequal petals, the 



