l8 VIOLA CUCULLATA. — COMMON BLUE VIOLET. 



or Perdita, in " Winter's Tale," tells Florizel that " before the 

 swallow dares " come, there are 



" Violets dim, 

 But sweeter than the Hds of Juno's eyes, 

 Or Cytherea's breath," 



they are referring to experiences which no American species of 

 Violet will afford. Our Violets will ' 



" take 

 The winds of March with beauty," 



but except to a small degree, in some species, fragrance is 

 wanting. 



The species we now illustrate is the commonest of those found 

 in America, so frequently met with as to bear the distinctive 

 name of " Common Blue Violet." It has been found wild from 

 Arctic America to the Gulf of Mexico, westward in the Rocky 

 Mountains, and across the Sierra Nevada, almost to the Pacific 

 coast. It grows in deep, shady woods, as well as in the most 

 exposed places, but generally where the soil is a little damp. It 

 varies very much, and in consequence the older botanists made 

 many species, with distinctive names, out of what are now 

 regarded as but forms of one. As a general rule, the flowers 

 are of a deeper blue in rich, cultivated soil, or in high places^ 

 than in low or swampy ground, in which latter they are often of 

 a lilac tint, and with the petals particularly thin and lank. Our 

 own Bryant undoubtedly alludes to this form when he sings so 

 slightingly of " violets lean," which 



"Nod o'er the ground-bird's liidden nest." 



The general characteristic of our flower is that of retiring, 

 contented luxury. 



In some specimens the leaves are lobed, while in others they 

 are palmately divided, but these variations in leaves are now 

 known to be so common in vegetation that only secondary 



