Reseda

Life-forms

Classification System: APG IV

Superregnum: Eukaryota
Regnum: Plantae
Cladus: Angiosperms
Cladus: Eudicots
Cladus: Core eudicots
Cladus: Rosids
Cladus: Eurosids II
Ordo: Brassicales

Familia: Resedaceae
Genus: Reseda
Species: R. alba – R. armena – R. aucheri – R. balansae – R. crystallina – R. germanicopolitana – R. globulosa – R. jacquinii – R. lutea – R. luteola – R. malatyana – R. microcarpa – R. minoica – R. odorata – R. orientalis – R. paui – R. phyteuma – R. saadae – R. scoparia – R. tomentosa

Name

Reseda Tourn. ex L., Sp. Pl.: 448 (1753).
Synonyms

Heterotypic
Arkopoda Raf., Fl. Tellur. 3: 73 (1837).
Eresda Spach, Hist. Nat. Vég. 7: 101 (1838).
Luteola Mill., Gard. Dict. Abr. ed. 4: s.p. (1754).
Pectanisia Raf., Fl. Tellur. 3: 72 (1837).
Tereianthes Raf., Fl. Tellur. 3: 72 (1837).
Tereianthus Fourr., Ann. Soc. Linn. Lyon, n.s., 16: 342 (1868).
Stefaninia Chiov., Fl. Somala 1: 77 (1929).

References
Primary references

Linnaeus, C. 1753. Species Plantarum. Tomus I: 448. Reference page.

Links

Govaerts, R. et al. 2021. Reseda in Kew Science Plants of the World online. The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Published on the internet. Accessed: 2021 Sep 18. Reference page.
Tropicos.org 2021. Reseda. Missouri Botanical Garden. Published on the internet. Accessed: 2021 Sep 18.
International Plant Names Index. 2021. Reseda. Published online. Accessed: 18 Sep 2021.
Hassler, M. 2021. World Plants. Synonymic Checklist and Distribution of the World Flora. . Reseda. Accessed: 18 Sep 2021.
Hassler, M. 2021. Reseda. World Plants: Synonymic Checklists of the Vascular Plants of the World In: Roskovh, Y., Abucay, L., Orrell, T., Nicolson, D., Bailly, N., Kirk, P., Bourgoin, T., DeWalt, R.E., Decock, W., De Wever, A., Nieukerken, E. van, Zarucchi, J. & Penev, L., eds. 2021. Species 2000 & ITIS Catalogue of Life. Published on the internet. Accessed: 2021 Sep 18. Reference page.
USDA, ARS, Germplasm Resources Information Network. Reseda in the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN), U.S. Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service. Accessed: 01-Aug-2009.

Vernacular names
العربية: بليحاء
azərbaycanca: Əspərək
башҡортса: Резеда
беларуская: Рэзеда
čeština: rýt
Deutsch: Wau
English: Mignonette
Esperanto: Rezedo
español: Reseda
eesti: Reseeda
فارسی: اسپرک
suomi: Resedat
français: Réséda
Gaeilge: Buí cumhra
hornjoserbsce: Róžat
magyar: Rezeda
հայերեն: Հափուկ
Ido: Rezedo
ქართული: რეზედა
қазақша: Шашақгүл
polski: Rezeda
русский: Резеда
slovenčina: rezeda
српски / srpski: Резеда
тоҷикӣ: Асирак

Reseda /rɪˈsiːdə/,[1] also known as the mignonette /ˌmɪnjəˈnɛt/,[2] is a genus of fragrant herbaceous plants native to Europe, southwest Asia and North Africa, from the Canary Islands and Iberia east to northwest India. The genus includes herbaceous annual, biennial and perennial species 40–130 cm tall. The leaves form a basal rosette at ground level, and then spirally arranged up the stem; they can be entire, toothed or pinnate, and range from 1–15 cm long. The flowers are produced in a slender spike, each flower small (4–6 mm diameter), white, yellow, orange, or green, with four to six petals. The fruit is a small dry capsule containing several seeds.

Other common names include weld or dyer's rocket (for R. luteola), and bastard rocket.

Cultivation and uses

Propagation is by seed, which is surface-sown directly into the garden or grass verge. The plant does not take well to transplanting and should not be moved after sowing.

Mignonette flowers are extremely fragrant. It is grown for the sweet ambrosial scent of its flowers. It is used in flower arrangements, perfumes and potpourri. A Victorian favourite, it was commonly grown in pots and in window-boxes to scent the city air. It was used as a sedative and a treatment for bruises in Roman times. The volatile oil is used in perfumery. The yellow dye was obtained from the roots of R. luteola by the first millennium BC, and perhaps earlier than either woad or madder. Use of this dye came to an end at the beginning of the twentieth century, when cheaper synthetic yellow dyes came into use.[3]

Charles Darwin used R. odorata in his studies of self-fertilised plants, which he documented in The Effects of Cross and Self-Fertilisation in the Vegetable Kingdom.
Species

As of March 2014 The Plant List recognises 41 accepted species (including infraspecific names):[4]

Reseda alba L. White Mignonette
subsp. myriosperma (Murb.) Maire
Reseda arabica Boiss.
Reseda aucheri Boiss.
Reseda barrelieri Bertol. ex Müll.Arg.
Reseda bucharica Litv.
Reseda complicata Bory Glaucous Mignonette
Reseda decursiva Forssk.
Reseda ellenbeckii Perkins
Reseda glauca L.
Reseda globulosa Fisch. & C.A.Mey.
Reseda gredensis (Cutanda & Willk.) Müll.Arg.
Reseda inodora Rchb.
Reseda jacquinii Rchb.
subsp. litigiosa (Sennen & Pau) Abdallah & de Wit
Reseda lanceolata Lag.
Reseda lutea L. Wild Mignonette
subsp. neglecta (Müll.Arg.) Abdallah & de Wit
Reseda luteola L. Weld
subsp. biaui (Pit.) Maire
Reseda media Lag.
Reseda minoica Martín-Bravo & Jim.Mejías
Reseda muricata C.Presl
Reseda odorata L. Common Mignonette
Reseda orientalis (Müll.Arg.) Boiss.
Reseda paui Valdés Berm. & Kaercher
subsp. almijarensis Valdés Berm. & Kaercher
Reseda phyteuma L. Corn Mignonette
subsp. collina (Müll.Arg.) Batt.
Reseda pruinosa Delile
Reseda scoparia Brouss. ex Willd. Canaries Mignonette
Reseda stenostachya Boiss.
Reseda stricta Pers.
Reseda suffruticosa Loefl.
subsp. barrelieri (Bertol. ex Muller) Fern. Casas, Molero & J. Pujadas
Reseda tymphaea Hausskn.
subsp. anatolica (Boiss.) Abdallah & de Wit
Reseda undata L.
subsp. gayana (Boiss.) Valdés Berm.
subsp. leucantha (Hegelm. ex Lange) Aránega ex Valdés Berm.
Reseda urnigera Webb
Reseda villosa Coss.
Reseda virgata Boiss. & Reut.
Reseda viridis Balf.f.

References

"reseda". Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. (Subscription or participating institution membership required.)
"mignonette". Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. (Subscription or participating institution membership required.)
Daniel Zohary, Maria Hopf and Ehud Weiss, Domestication of Plants in the Old World: The Origin and Spread of Domesticated Plants in Southwest Asia, Europe, and the Mediterranean Basin, 4th edition (Oxford: University Press, 2012), p. 209
"Reseda". The Plant List. Retrieved 31 March 2014.