SPECIES DESCRIPTION
RESEDA ALBA ssp. ALBA
Family:- RESEDACEAE/Sect. LEUCORESEDA
Common Names:- White mignonette
Homotypic 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:- Erect annual or biennial (occasionally perennial),
Stem:-
1) 25-80 cm, simple or sparingly branched from the base.
Leaves:-
1) 1-pinnatifid with 5-15 pairs of segments and sometimes smaller intercalary lobes;
margins often undulate.
Flower:-
1) In many-flowered racemes, dense and ± pyramidal at early anthesis, much
enlongating in fruit.
1) Sepals, 5 or 6, (1·5-)3-4 mm.
2) Petals, subequal, 5 or 6, 3·5-6 mm; limb triangular, 3-5 times as long as the
claw, lobed to 1/3-2/3 of its length.
a) lobes 3, the lateral often again lobed.
3) Stamens, 10-12, exserted;
a) anthers. orange tuming yellow.
Fruit:-
1) Capsule, 8-16 mm, narrowly obovate or elliptical, constricted at the apex.
2) Seeds, 1.2-1.4 mm, with papillae arranged in dense longitudinal rows.
Key features:-
1) Petals, (at least the 2 upper) with a distinct claw.
2) Carpels, and stigmas, always 4.
3) Leaves, pinnatifid with 515 pairs of segments.
Habitat:- Dry open shrubby vegetation, gravelly coastal habitats, field margins, olive
groves, roadsides. 0-600 m.
Distribution:- Coastal areas of W Greece. - Widespread in the Mediterranean
region and SW Asia. Limited distribution on Crete, mainly around W C & E coastal
areas
Flowering time:- (Feb-)Mar to early June.
Photos by:- Fotis Samaritakis
