TENTANDRIA. MOXOGYNIA. 147 



:25. VIOLA. L. (Violet.) 



CaUx 5-Ieaved, produced at the base. Corolla 

 S-petallcd, irregular, tlie lower petal cornute 

 behind. Juthers comiivent, coliering at tlio 

 membranaceous apex. Capsule superior, 3- 

 valved, 1 -celled. 



Herbaceous, rarely shrubby; leaves alternate, stipulate; 

 peduncles radical or axillary, l-fiowered, flowers often 

 inverted. (Capsule cartilaginous, obtusely triang^ular, 

 valves semiuilerous in the middle, contracting- when open, 

 and ejecting- the seeds with elasticity; seeds in 3 rows, 

 covered with a fragile coloured shell; liilum carunculate; 

 corculum erect and flat, in tiie centre of" a carneovis peris- 

 perm; cotyledons roundish-oval, radicle cylindric. — All 

 the North American species of Viola, like the V. canina, 

 continue through the summer to produce apetalous flow- 

 ers and fruit; (with the exception of the anomalous V. 

 cojicolor.) in the stemless species the fruit thus produced 

 is generally near the root and not unl'requently beneath 

 the soil. The V. striata, which continues flowering in the 

 vicinity of Pliiladelphia until June, begins to produce 

 apetalous flov/ers in July in consequence of the elevated 

 temparature. The genus Viola then belongs to the tem- 

 perate zone, w^here it continues to flower as long as it 

 produces leaves ) 



Species. §. i. Stemless. — 1. V. pedata. Stigma large, 

 compressed at the sides, apex obliquely truncate, perfo- 

 rate. — Uhave never seen any other violet with a stigma- 

 similar to tliis. 



2. pahnata. Leaves always more or less pubescent on 

 both sides; during the period of inflore&cence, palmate or 

 lobed, before and after flowering, entire, cordate or re- 

 niform, and only then to be distinguished from V. cii- 

 cnllata by the constancy of the pubescence; stigma capi- 

 tate, recurved, rostrate, depressed, margined all roundj 

 segments of the calix acute. 



3. aagittata. Leaf, nearly smooth, or sometimes slightly 

 pubescent on the upper side, of: en hastate.; flower scarcely 

 to be distinguished from that of V. cucullata. /3. *emarg-i7ia- 

 ta. Leaves similar to those of V. sj^gitiaia, almost triangular- 

 ly cordate, or hastate, lacerately toothed near the base and 

 decurrentin a narrow margin on the petiole, always smooth 

 beneath, often pubescent above; scape longer than the 

 leaf; petab obovate, all emarginate or bi-deiuate» the low- 



