Flora-Fauna

Reseda alba L.

(First published in Sp. Pl.: 449; 1753. Treated in Nouvelle Flore du Liban et de la Syrie, vol. 2, p. 185; 1969)

• Life-form & habit: Annual or biennial, 30–80 cm, glabrous or slightly pubescent, branched above.
• Leaves: Lower leaves lyrate-pinnatifid with a larger terminal lobe; upper leaves narrower, entire or toothed.
• Inflorescence & flowers: Terminal racemes, elongated in fruit; flowers small, whitish; petals with 3–5 lobes, one much larger, deeply divided.
• Fruit: Capsule oblong, 5–10 mm, dehiscing by 3 valves; seeds small, black, reticulate.
• Phenology: Flowers March–June.
• Habitat & elevation: Dry ruderal places, roadsides, fallow lands.
• Lebanese distribution: Very common — coast to middle mountains, Beqa‘a, Anti-Lebanon.
• Syrian distribution: Widespread — Damascus, Hauran, Aleppo, Latakia, Palmyrene steppe.
• Native range: Northeast Tropical Africa (Eritrea); Northern Africa (Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Tunisia); Western Asia (Cyprus, East Aegean Islands, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon–Syria, Palestine, Sinai, Turkey); Southeastern Europe (Albania, Greece, Italy, Crete, Sicily, European Turkey, former Yugoslavia); Southwestern Europe (Balearic Islands, Corsica, France, Portugal, Sardinia, Spain). (POWO/WCVP)
• Introduced: Eastern Asia (Taiwan); Indian Subcontinent (India); Australasia (Australia — South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, Western Australia); Middle Europe (Belgium, Czechia, Germany); Northern Europe (Great Britain, Ireland); Southeastern Europe (Romania); North America (Canada: Ontario, Québec, British Columbia, Manitoba, Saskatchewan; USA: Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Kansas, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Vermont, Oregon, Washington); Central America (Guatemala); South America (scattered records).

⚠️ Taxonomic note: Easily identified among Levantine Reseda by its elongated racemes, the upper petal deeply 3–5-lobed, and the common occurrence in ruderal habitats.