VIOLET. C5 



In the spring of 1823, we found the banks be- 

 tween Preston and Clayton, near Brighton, covered 

 with Violets, principally white. The soil was a 

 kind of chalky loam, and on some of the banks we 

 found a considerable quantity of Sweet Violets, of 

 a murrey or pale mulberry colour, and others of a 

 dingy flesh colour, not unlike the tint of common 

 blotting paper. Near these we uniformly discovered 

 patches of White Violets on one side, and the 

 purple variety on the other, which evinced the 

 change to be principally owing to the accidental 

 mixture of the farina of the two varieties, as we ob- 

 served some of the AVhite Violets had the edges of 

 their petals tinged with purple, and the spur of 

 the greater part were tinged with that colour with 

 a reddish cast. We are inclined to think that the 

 soil in some decree assisted in contributing to this 

 unusual colour of the Sweet Violet, as on the same 

 day we found on a grass-plot, near a very large 

 yew tree, in the Rectory garden at Clayton, where 

 the soil is a mixture of cold clay and chalk, 

 Violets growing spontaneously, of a rich red plum 

 colour, and as odorous as the White or Purple 

 Violets. 



In dissecting the blossom of the Sweet Violet, the 

 students of phytography will have clearly demon- 

 strated to them the utility of the nectary to the 

 parts of fructification. What is termed the spur 



