Reseda lutea, L.

Tutin, T. G., Heywood, V. H., Burges, N. A., Moore, D. M., Valentine, D. H., Walters, S. M. & Webb, D. A., 1964, Flora Europaea - Volume 1. Lycopodiaceae to Platanaceae, Cambridge University Press : 348

17. R. lutea L. , Sp. Pl. 449 (1753)

( R. ramosissima Pourret ex Willd. ).

Annual to perennial, bushy . Leaves mostly pinnatifid, with 1—2(—4) pairs of pinnae (or leaves sometimes bi- or ternate); segments elongate. Bracts usually caducous. Petals yellow; lateral lobes of the upper falcate, subentire; mid-lobe shorter; limb of the lower entire or with 2-3 linear-spathulate lobes. Capsule 7-12 x 4 5-5-5 mm, rarely nodding, oblong, oblongobovoid or ellipsoid. Cultivated and disturbed ground. S. & W. Europe; probably a naturalized alien further north and east. Al Au BI Br Bu Co Cr G a G r H b Ho Hs It Ju Lu Po Rm?Sa?Si Tu *[Be Cz D a Ge He H u Rs (N, C, W, K, E)].

R. truncata Fischer & Meyer , Ind. Sem. Horti Petrop. 4: 45 (1837) is said to occur in the Balkan peninsula and to differ from 17 in its ternate-incised leaves, papillose inflorescence-axis, papillose-hairy stamen filaments and ellipsoid-cylindrical capsule, with truncate base and apex, and inconspicuous stigmatic lobes. However, though plants with the capsules truncate at the apex are perhaps commoner in S.E. Europe than elsewhere, this character and that of the papillose inflorescence-axis usually occur independently and are found fairly widespread through the range of 17 and do not appear to justify the recognition of a separate species.