Reseda alba
Encyclopedia
Reseda alba is a species of flowering plant in the reseda family
known by the common name white mignonette, or white upright mignonette. It is native to Europe, Asia, and North Africa, and it can be found in parts of the Americas and Australia as an introduced species
. It is also cultivated as an ornamental plant
for its spikelike raceme
s of fragrant white flowers. This is an annual or perennial herb growing up to a meter tall. The leaves are divided deeply into many narrow lobes. The inflorescence
, which may take up most of the upper stem, is densely packed with many white flowers. Each flower has five or six petals, each of which is divided into three long, narrow lobes, making the raceme appear frilly. The fruit is a nearly rectangular four-angled capsule up to 1.4 centimeters in length.
Resedaceae
Resedaceae is a family of generally herbaceous dicotyledonous plants comprising some 70 species in six genera:*Caylusea*Ochradenus*Oligomeris*Randonia*Reseda*Sesamoides...
known by the common name white mignonette, or white upright mignonette. It is native to Europe, Asia, and North Africa, and it can be found in parts of the Americas and Australia as an introduced species
Introduced species
An introduced species — or neozoon, alien, exotic, non-indigenous, or non-native species, or simply an introduction, is a species living outside its indigenous or native distributional range, and has arrived in an ecosystem or plant community by human activity, either deliberate or accidental...
. It is also cultivated as an ornamental plant
Ornamental plant
Ornamental plants are plants that are grown for decorative purposes in gardens and landscape design projects, as house plants, for cut flowers and specimen display...
for its spikelike raceme
Raceme
A raceme is a type of inflorescence that is unbranched and indeterminate and bears pedicellate flowers — flowers having short floral stalks called pedicels — along the axis. In botany, axis means a shoot, in this case one bearing the flowers. In a raceme, the oldest flowers are borne...
s of fragrant white flowers. This is an annual or perennial herb growing up to a meter tall. The leaves are divided deeply into many narrow lobes. The inflorescence
Inflorescence
An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Strictly, it is the part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed and which is accordingly modified...
, which may take up most of the upper stem, is densely packed with many white flowers. Each flower has five or six petals, each of which is divided into three long, narrow lobes, making the raceme appear frilly. The fruit is a nearly rectangular four-angled capsule up to 1.4 centimeters in length.