44 VIOLARIEH. [ Viola. 
3-5 parietal placentas; ovules many or few to each placenta. 
Fruit either a 3-5-valved capsule or a berry. Seeds usually small; 
embryo straight, in the axis of fleshy albumen. 
An order scattered over the whole world, containing 22 genera and about 
250 species. The roots of many of the species are emetic, and are used as a 
substitute for ipecacuanha. One of the New Zealand genera is found in most 
countries ; the other two have a very limited distribution outside the colony. 
Herbs. Flowers irregular, the lower petal produced into a 
spur. Fruit a capsule te ae re 
Trees or shrubs. Flowers regular. Fruit a berry. 
Anthers free “i ae or 2. MELIcYTUs. 
Anthers coherent oe Sc a .. 3. HYMENANTHERA. 
1. VIonA. 
1. VIOLA, Linn. 
Annual or perennial herbs of small size. Leaves tufted at the 
top of a short woody rootstock or alternate on creeping or trail- 
ing stems, stipulate. Flowers irregular, on radical or axillary 
1-flowered peduncles. Sepals 4, slightly produced at the base. 
Petals 5, spreading, the lowest usually longer and spurred at the 
base. Anthers 5, nearly sessile, the connectives flat, produced into 
a thin membrane beyond the cells, the two lower often spurred at 
the base. Style swollen above, straight or oblique at the tip. 
Capsule 3-valved ; valves elastic, each with a single parietal pla- 
centa. Seeds ovoid or globose. 
A large genus, widely diffused in all temperate climates, the species 
probably numbering considerably over 100. Two of the New Zealand species 
are endemic, the third extends to Tasmania. 
In most of the species of the genus the flowers are dimorphic; some, which 
are usually produced early in the flowering season, having conspicuous flowers 
with large petals, as a rule ripening few seeds; others, which appear in late 
summer or autumn, being much smaller, with either minute petals or none at 
all, but which ripen abundance of seed. These are usually called cleistogamic 
flowers. 
Stems slender, elongated. Leaves cordate. Stipules and 
bracts lacerate 55 af fe Se .. L. V. filicaults. 
Stems slender. Leaves cordate. Stipules and bracts 
entire .. 2. Ve Lyallu. 
Stems short. Leaves ovate. Stipules and bracts entire .. 3. V. Cunninghami. 
1. V. filicaulis, Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 16.—Slender, per- 
fectly glabrous. Stems numerous, almost filiform, prostrate, some- 
times ascending at the tips. Leaves alternate, ovate - cordate 
orbicular-cordate or almost reniform, }-2in. diam., obtuse or 
subacute, obtusely crenate; petioles slender. Stipules broad, 
deeply laciniate ; teeth filiform, often glandular-tipped. Peduncles 
slender, 2—-4in. long; bracts about the middle, linear, toothed or 
lacerate. Flowers 4in. diam. Sepals linear-lanceolate. Petals 
spathulate; spur short.— Handb. N.Z. Fl. 16; Kirk, Students’ 
Fl. 40. 
