violace.t:. 25 



sjwcimcn (Martin, PL cles Environs cle Lyon) is V. variata. (Jord.), 

 which is identical with E. B. 1287. 



Large-flowered Wield Pansy, Three-coloured Violet, Heartsease. 



French, Violette Pensee. German, Dreifarbiges Veilchen, Stie/iniitterchen. 



The old English names for this favourite plant are various : " Kit-run-the 

 Street ; " " Love-in-Idleness," which name still exists in Warwickshire, " Herb Trinity," 

 from its tri-coloured flowers, and " Heartsease," from its supposed potency in love-charms. 

 Doubtless it was this little plant to which Shakespeare attributes such wondei'- working 

 properties in the person of Oberon, king of the fairie.s : — 



" Yet niark'd I where the bolt of Cupid fell : 

 It fell upon a little western flower, — 

 Before, milk-wliite ; now, purple with Love's wound, — 

 And maidens call it. Love-in-idleness. 

 Fetch me that flower ; the herb I showed thee once : 

 The juice of it on sleeping eyelids laid, 

 Will make or man or woman madly dote 

 Upon the next live creature that it sees." 



Again, we remember the poor love-lorn Ophelia, whoso half-crazed wanderings 

 have such jilaintive tenderness of expression — 



" There's Pansies, that's for thoughts." 



The Heartsease is considered sacred to St. Valentine ; and Robert Turner, an old 

 author, says : " Both garden and wild kinds, while they ai'e fresh and green, are cold and 

 moist under the mild influence of Venus.' The flowers were considered by old writers 

 on IMateria Medica to be cordial and good for diseases of the heart, or what passed 

 for such ; also as a remedy in epilepsy, ulcers, and cutaneous complaints. Some years 

 ago, a writer in the " Medical Journal" called attention to the Heartsease as a valuable 

 remedy for the cutaneous disorder called cricsta lactea in children. For tiiis purpose, 

 half a drachm of the leaves, or a handful of the fresh herb, boiled in milk, was to be 

 given every night and morning, and poultices made of the leaves to be ai)plied 

 externally. When strongly distilled. Heartsease exhales a smell resembling peach 

 kernels. Whether it be fresh or dried, when distilled with water it gives a little volatile 

 oil of a very acrid taste, having the same smell. The corolla yields to water its colouring 

 principle in the same way as the other species of Viola. The Viola tricolor is one of 

 the few of our British plants that has become a favourite in our gardens, and under 

 the fostering care of the gardener has assumed larger proportions and much handsomer 

 colours than it presents in its wild state. The cultivation of the Pansy is still 

 encouraged, and at our annual village horticultural shows as well as the grander exhibi- 

 tions of London, the most skilful cultivator of its tricoloured flowei's comes in for a 

 prize. 



Sub-Species il— Viola arvensis. Mwr. 



Plate CLXXIX. 



V. tricolor, Rdch. Ic. Fl. Germ, et llelv.' Vol. IIL Viol. Tab. XXL Fig. 4.517, a, h, c,d. 

 V. tricolor, var. />, Auct. Plur. 



E,ootstoclv none. Stems elongated, liranched, especially at tlie 



VOL. II. E 



