CL— THE WILD MIGNONETTE. 
Reseda lutea Linne. 
U nquestionably related to the Crudfera^ and still more closely to the 
Caper Family (Capparidaced)^ the small Family Resedacea^ which is chiefly 
represented by the Mignonettes, consists mostly of herbaceous plants, adapted to dry 
sunny conditions, with a watery juice and no marked medicinal properties. At the 
same time, they take their name from the genus Reseda^ which in turn derives its 
name from the Latin resedo^ I calm, from some entirely Imaginary sedative properties. 
This generic name, adopted by Linnaeus, is used by Pliny. 
The Family belongs largely to the Mediterranean region, but extends not only 
into Northern Europe but also into South Africa and California. In Britain it is 
represented only by two species of the genus Reseda^ a third species, R. alba Linn6, 
though occurring sometimes in waste sandy places near the sea, being probably only 
an outcast from gardens or an introduction with corn from the south, and others 
being only casuals. On the mainland of Europe there are nearly twenty species. 
Their roots share the acridity of the allied Families Crucifevie and Capparidaceie, 
and those of the Wild Mignonette {Reseda lutea Linn^), which have the smell of 
radishes, were formerly considered to have sudorific, aperient, and diuretic characters. 
The bitterness which is so generally associated with yellow colouring-matters is 
strongly marked in the leaves of R. Luteola Linn6 ; but the fragrance of R. odorata 
Linn6, which is the main popular association with the name Mignonette, is not 
possessed by most of the other species. 
Scattered leaves with minute, gland-like stipules and terminal bracteate racemes 
or spikes of greenish inconspicuous flowers are general in the Family, as also is a 
certain absence of symmetry in the flower, the number of the parts being inconstant 
and the floral axis giving rise to a large posterior hypogynous disk. The sepals and 
petals both vary from four to eight in number, and the former are imbricate in 
the bud and persist into the fruiting stage. The two posterior petals are often 
larger than the rest, and this, coupled with the posterior position of the bilaterally 
symmetrical disk, renders the flower monosymmetric or zygomorphic, it being possible 
to divide it symmetrically only through its median or antero-posterior plane. While 
the petals are inserted below the disk, the stamens, which generally number between 
ten and twenty-four, spring from its upper surface, and, with reference to the 
gynaeceum, may perhaps be described rather as perigynous than as hypogynous. 
There are three or six carpels, generally united into a one-chambered ovary, with 
three parietal many-seeded placentas, which curiously gapes open at the top between 
the three stigmatiferous lobes, even before pollination. The fruit is usually a 
parchment-like bladdery capsule, and the kidney-shaped seeds are exalbuminous 
and have curved embryos. 
