Propagation is by seed, which is surface-sown directly into the garden or grass verge. The plant does not take well to transplanting and should not be moved after sowing. Mignonette flowers are extremely fragrant. It is grown for the sweet
ambrosial scent of its flowers. It is used in flower arrangements, perfumes and
potpourri. A
Victorian favourite, it was commonly grown in pots and in window-boxes to scent the city air. It was used as a
sedative and a treatment for bruises in
Roman times. The volatile oil is used in perfumery. Yellow dye was obtained from the roots of
R. luteola by the first millennium BC, and perhaps earlier than either
woad or
madder. Use of this dye came to an end at the beginning of the twentieth century, when cheaper synthetic yellow dyes came into use.
Charles Darwin used
R. odorata in his studies of self-fertilised plants, which he documented in
The Effects of Cross and Self-Fertilisation in the Vegetable Kingdom. ==Species==