Reseda
(the old Latin name used by Pliny, from resedo, to calm or appease; the application of the plants to external bruises was considered useful by the Latins). Mignonette. ORD. Resedaceae. A genus of annual or biennial, hardy, erect or decumbent, glabrous or pilose herbs. About twenty-six may lay claim to specific rank; these are mostly natives of South Europe and North Africa, and are also found in Syria, Persia, and Arabia. Flowers racemose, bracteate; calyx four to seven-parted; petals hypogynous, four to seven, unequal, two to many-fid; torus sub-sessile. Capsule indehiscent, three-lobed at apex. Leaves entire, lobed or pinnatisect; stipules gland-formed. R. lutea and R. Luteola (Dyers' Rocket, Dyers' Weed, or Dyers' Yellow Weed) are natives of Britain. The latter plant was formerly in great demand for dyeing purposes. Few of the species are of any great value to horticulturists. R. odorata, the common Mignonette, is one of our most highly-valued and sweet-scented garden plants. For culture, enumeration of varieties, &c., see Mignonette. R. alba (white). fl. with white petals and brownish anthers, disposed in dense spikes; calyx five or six-parted. May to September. l. all pinnatifid or sometimes interruptedly pinnate; segments lanceolate, smooth, rarely waved. h. 2ft. South Europe, 1596. Hardy biennial. (S. F. G. 459.) R. frutescens (shrubby). A form of R. odorata.
R. odorata (fragrant).* Common Mignonette. fl. with yellowish-white petals and saffron anthers, disposed in loose racemes; calyx six-parted, equalling the petals, which are finely cleft into many club-shaped divisions. June to October. l. lanceolate, bluntisb, entire or trifid. North Africa, Egypt, &c., 1752. Plant diffuse.(B. M. 29.) The variety frutescens is merely a shrubby form of this species. (B. R. 227.)