Plant that looks like a lamb’s tail

The small white flowers grow on a columnar stalk that looks like a lamb’s tail hence its Maltese name, denb il-ħaruf abjad.

The flowers are so small that to appreciate the beauty of this flower you should move in close and if possible use a magnifying glass to study the details of the individual flowers.

The white mignonette grows in Europe, Asia and North Africa but has also been introduced in the Americas and Australia. It is now also cultivated as a garden plant. 

Garden varieties can grow up to a metre high but the wild plants found in the Maltese islands hardly ever grow half as tall. 

This species grows mainly in disturbed habitats and is commonly found throughout the Maltese islands. It can be seen flowering between December and May.

Mignonettes were grown in Victorian England in pots and placed on windowsills to counteract the noxious smell of the city air with their scent. In Roman times the plants were used to produce a sedative and to treat bruises. An oil, extracted from the flowers, is used in perfumery.

The yellow mignonette, a species closely related to the white was also of use. A yellow dye called weld was produced from its roots as far back as 3,000 years ago. Dye production stopped at the turn of the 20^th century when cheaper synthetic dyes became available.

The yellow mignonette is also found in the Maltese countryside but unlike its relative it is very rare. In Maltese it is known as denb il-ħaruf isfar. If you are lucky you can find this plant in flower in April and May.

Both species are rich in nectar and pollen and attract large numbers of butterflies and bees. 

This article was published in The Times on 28.02.2012

The white mignonette

White mignonette (Reseda alba)

The white mignonette is an unmistakable perennial plant found growing along road sides, on disturbed ground, in rocky habitats and garigue. 

It grows throughout the Mediterranean region but is more common in the western part. It can now also be found in the Americas and Australia as an introduced species as well as in most parts of the world as a cultivated garden plant. 

In Malta it can be seen growing on walls including old buildings and bastions but not as a garden plant.

It flowers from January to May. The inflorescence, which may take up most of the upper stem, is densely packed with many small creamy-white flowers. Each flower has five or six petals, each of which is divided into three long, narrow lobes, making it appear frilly. 

The inflorescence has a symmetrical shape which gives the plant a very attractive appearance even before the flowers are open.

Two species of mignonettes are found in Malta. The most common is the white mignonette which is known in Maltese as denb il-ħaruf  because of the shape of its inflorescence, which looks very much like a lamb’s tail.

The yellow mignonette is known as denb il-ħaruf isfar. It has pale yellow flowers but is rare and can be overlooked for the white flowered species.

The mignonettes belong to the reseda family. Reseda is a Latin word meaning to assuage or calm because these species are supposed t have sedative properties.

Another member of this family, the dyer’s rocket, which does not grow in the Maltese islands, was used in Roman times as a sedative and to treat bruises. 

A volatile oil was extracted from its roots to be used in perfumery as far back as the first millennium BC but its use came to an end in the beginning of the 20th century with the discovery of cheap synthetic dyes.

The white mignonette is the food plant of among other things the bath white. This is a species of butterfly related to the more common large and small whites. The caterpillar is blue with yellow lines on the back and sides and many black spots. 

This article was published in The Times on 08.03.2011