VIOLET. 381 



grand signor himself, is made of violets and sugar. — 

 Tavernier." 



Mr. H. Smith, in his Amarynthus, speaks of this flower 

 as being of short dui-ation. 



" the trembling violet, which eyes 



The sun but once, and unrepining dies." 



The North American Violets are mostly void of scent, 

 with the exception of the DogVviolet, with which we are 

 also familiar in our own hedges, as a successor to the 

 Sweet-violet. With this exception too, the North Ame- 

 rican Violets best succeed in loam and bog earth, and 

 should be housed in the winter. 



VIPER'S BUGLOSS. 



ECHIUM. 



BORRAGINEiE. PENTANDRIA MONOGYNIA. 



This plant has been supposed to cure the bite of the viper : it is also 

 called cat's tail. — French, la viperine ; I'herbe aux viperes [viper's 

 wort]. — Italian, viperina. 



The Cretan species is the handsomest of the genus : its 

 flowers are of a red-purple : the plant produces them but 

 once. This kind is a native of the Levant : its stalks are 

 trailing, and about a foot in length. The top of a wall is 

 the best place to sow it ; if in a pot, it must be in a 

 gravelly soil: it should be sown about the middle of 

 October, and in hard frost covered with a little sawdust, 

 straw, or oak-leaves. It will flower in July and August ; 

 and if on a wall, will scatter its own seeds, and so maintain 

 its own continuance. 



The other species must be housed in the winter : they 

 do not produce their flowers till the second year after 

 sowing. They must be sparingly watered, in winter par- 

 ticularly ; the stems being succulent. 



