Definition of "mignonnette"

The marjorum stood in ruddy and fragrant masses; harebells and campanulas of several kinds, that are cultivated in our gardens, with bells large and clear; crimson pinks; the Michaelmas daisy; a plant with a thin, radiated yellow flower, of the character of an aster; a centaurea of a light purple, handsomer than any English one; a thistle in the dryest places, resembling an eryngo, with a thick, bushy top; mulleins, yellow and white; the wild mignonnette, and the white convolvulus; and clematis festooning the bushes, recalled the flowery fields and lanes of England, and yet told us that we were not there.

1850, Harper's Magazine, volume 1, page 449

Mr. Blueapron — who keeps his vinery so moist that his vines put forth roots, in mid air, the whole length of their new-wood branches — who manures his vine-borders with quarters of dead horse, and will not allow even a mignonnette plant to exhaust their richness — would look aghast if he were told to cultivate such compost as that.

1855, Household Words, volume 30, page 228

The fragrance of mignonnettes, and a hundred flowers that recall Old England, fill the air.

1857, Samuel Baker, The Rifle and the Hound in Ceylon, page 21

These are anemones, such as I put on your shelf yesterday morning, but these little starry mignonnettes did not grow wild, neither did those wax-balls in the middle.

1863, Mrs. H. C. Gardner, Rosedale: A Story of Self-denial, page 187

The Victoria Regia, the fuchsias, the mignonnettes, the orchids, were almost life-like in their fidelity.

1873, Every Saturday, page 318

A little forest of mignonnettes sets an example of soberness and fragrance, while that honest gilliflower looks like an old-fashioned English matron.

1875, Friends Intelligencer, volume 31, page 493

Again, it is a fact that among the sweet mignonnettes some are less fertile than others, and that the least productive have the most odor.

1879, Scientific American, volume 8, page 3089

Those desirous of raising a / mignonnette tree / may proceed as follows:—In April sow two or three seeds in a sixty-sized pot, and when the seedlings are large enough, and growing strongly, reduce to one plant, and shift this repeatedly into larger pots until August.

1880, George M F. Glenny, Floriculture, page 81

On both sides of this main piece runs a conventional foliage forming a succession of curling motifs, or sprays of flowers of the umbelliferous genus, ferns, sprigs of rose buds, mignonnettes, myosotis, loosely entwined with thin and narrow ribbons, etc.

1893, The Jewelers' Circular and Horological Review, volume 27, page 19