156 LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS. 
MIGNONETTE. 
TOUR QUALITIES SURPASS TOUR CHARMS. 
Nearlt one hundred years have run their course 
since the Mignonette first bloomed in our climes. 
It was brought from Egypt. Linneus, who gave to 
it the name of Reseda odorata, compares its perfume 
with that of ambrosia : its fragrance is stronger at 
the rising and setting of the sun than at noon. 
Mignonette flowers from the beginning of spring to 
the end of autumn ; but, by preserving it in a 
temperate green-house, its sweets may be inhaled in 
the winter season. It then becomes woody, lives 
many years, shoots up and forms with care a shrub 
of the most charming appearance. 
No gorgeous flowers the meek Reseda grace, 
Yet sip, with eager trunk, yon busy race 
Her simple cup, uor heed the dazzling gem 
That beams in Fritillaria's diadem. 
Evans. 
