Dicotyledons with Polypetalous Flowers. 
9 
Natural Order 
RESEDACEAL Tab. 7. 
Diagnosis. — Herbs with alternate often tufted leaves. Petals usually 
palmately divided. Stamens inserted upon a one-sided hypogynous disk. 
Pistil syncarpous, with parietal placentation. Seeds exalbuminous. 
Distribution. —A small Order principally confined to countries bordering the Mediterranean, with 
several species throughout Central Europe, and a few extending eastward to India. 
One British Genus; Species, 2. 
Flowers racemose, usually irregular; bracteate. 
' Sepals 4 to 8. 
Petals 4 to 8 ; in Mignonette ( Reseda ) unequal, with a broad claw and multifid limb. 
Stamens indefinite ; often few. 
Fruit opening at the apex before the seeds are ripe in Mignonette. 
USES, &c.—None of the Order are of much economic importance. Weld or Dyer’s Mignonette (Reseda 
Luteola ) is used as a yellow dye. Sweet Mignonette is a universal garden favourite; it has not been satisfactorily 
recognised in the wild state, though some very near allies are indigenous in the Levant. 
