SPECIES DESCRIPTION

RESEDA ALBA ssp. ALBA

Family:- RESEDACEAE/Sect. LEUCORESEDA

Common Names:- White mignonette

Synonyms:- None

Meaning:- Reseda (L) Healer, a name used by the Roman naturalist and

philosopher Pliny for its use in the treatment of bruises.

Alba (L) White.

General description:- Annual to perennial (10-)30-80 cm, erect, branching above.

Leaves:- Leaf-lobes 5-15 on each side, entire. Pedicels 1-8 mm.

Flower:- Sepals 5 or 6, (1·5-)3-4 mm; petals 5 or 6, 3·5-6 mm; limb triangular, 3-5

times as long as claw, lobed to 1/3-2/3 of its length; lobes 3, the lateral often again

lobed. Stamens 10-12, shorter than the petals.

Fruit:- Capsule 8-16 mm, narrowly obovate or elliptical, constricted at the apex.

Key features:-

1) Petals (at least the 2 upper) with a distinct claw.

2) Capsule 8-16 mm;

3) Inflorescence rarely longer than the leafy part of the stem.

Habitat:- Dry rocky ground, disturbed and waste places, roadsides.

Distribution:- Widespread across the Mediterranean bur rarer in the east. Limited

distribution on Crete

Flowering time:- Jan-May

Photo by:- Fotis Angel

FAMILY and GENUS DESCRIPTIONS

RESEDACEAE

General description:- Annual to perennial herbs, rarely woody.

Leaves:- Alternate, simple or composed of more than three lobes arranged in two rows along a common axis (pinnate) the lobes extending from about a quarter to half-way towards the axis of the leaf rachis (pinnatifid).

Flowers:- In terminal,racemes subtended by or beset with bracts (bracteate) or spikes. Sepals 4-8; petals 4-8, free, entire or cut into slender lobes or drawn-out teeth (laciniate); stamens 7-25, inserted on on the receptacle below and free from the ovary, (hypogynous) or are carried up around the ovary on a cup-shaped extension of the floral axis (hypanthium) (perigynous), often eccentric disc. Carpels 3-7, superior, free and uniovulate or united into a single-celled (unilocular) ovary which is open above, with numerous ovules on parietal placentae.

Fruit:- A capsule open at the top or consisting of 4-7 1-seeded, radiating carpels. Seeds suborbicular or kidney-shaped (reniform), without the albumen of a seed (endosperm).

RESEDA

General description:- Annuals to perennials.

Leaves:- Entire, toothed or composed of more than three lobes arranged in two rows along a common axis (pinnate) the lobes extending from about a quarter to half-way towards the axis of the leaf rachis (pinnatifid).

Flowers:- Petals usually with a dilated base (claw) and lobed distal portion (limb); bases of stamens forming a disc which is often produced dorsally; carpels and stigmas 3 or 4; ovary single-celled (unilocular); capsule opening more widely at maturity.

Leaf-shape is very veriable in most species. It is necessary to observe carefully the shape and dissection of the petals when using the key and care should be taken to distinguish between the upper and the lateral petals.

Key features:-
1) Fruit a unilocular capsule with numerous seeds.

Sect. LEUCORESEDA

Leaves:- Pinnatifid; lobes usually varying irregularly in length.

Flowers:- Sepals 5 or 6; petals 5 or 6 (two upper, two lateral, one or two lower), white, more or less clawed. Filaments persistent. Carpels 4.