Yellow Mignonnette

Yellow Mignonnette / Reseda lutea / بليحاء صفراء

By Isidre blanc - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0Link

Status: Common

This biennial perennial plant grows upto a height 2feet 7 inches;so is a medium to tall plant with branches that give a bushy appearance. Spines or thorns and stipules are absent and the plant is a non-succulent. It is resistant to frost and the summer shedding is ‘ephemeral’.
Seeds and fruits are homogeneous and look like a small shiny flat black disc. Many seeds are normally present inside a single pod.  Seeds ripen from August to September. The fruits are generally dry and split open when they are ripe. The length of the fruit is between 0.7 – 1.5 mm.  The flowers are yellow coloured and hermaphrodite (male and female sex organs on the same flower). The flowers are arranged in conical spikes and have no smell or fragrance. Each flower has 5 petals and sepals and are arranged in a terminal pattern on the conical spike. They are very actively pollinated by insects like bees and during the warm summer flowering months. The flowers are wild. 
The plant produces large amounts of seed which has the ability to remain viable in the soil for a long time.
The leaves are small, pale greenish yellow in colour and the leaf form is dissected and the leaf margin  is ‘emarginate’ – dentate  or serrated. The pattern of leaf arrangement is alternate (one leaf per node) and rosette type. The seedlings have rounded leaves.

Other name: Wild Mignonnette, dyer's rocket, dyers weld, weld.

IUCN red list status: not evaluated

Local status: least concern