S6 VIOLACE^ 



flowers. "We have," he says, "our daisies strung and wreathed about our 

 dress, our coronals of orchises and primroses, and our cowslip balls ; and one 

 application of flowers at this season I have noticed, which though, perhaps, 

 it is local, has a remarkably pretty eff'ect, forming, for the time, one of the 

 gayest little shrubs that can be seen. A small branch or long spray of the 

 whitethorn, with all its spines uninjured, is selected, and on these its alter- 

 nate thorns, a white and a blue Violet, plucked from their stalks, are stuck 

 upright in succession, until the thorns are covered ; and when placed in a 

 flowerpot full of moss, has perfectly the appearance of a beautiful vernal- 

 flowering dwarf shrub, and as long as it remains fresh is an object of surprise 

 and delight." 



3. Marsh Violet {V. pahlsiris). — Leaves heart-shaped, or kidney-shaped, 

 quite smooth ; sepals obtuse ; spur very short ; root creeping ; scions short. 

 Plant perennial. This little flower is like the other Violets in form, l)ut it is 

 much paler in colour than most of the species, being of a light grey lilac 

 tint, marked with darker veins. It is in flower from April to June, among 

 the large mosses of the bogs, or sometimes, as in the neighbourhood of Clifton, 

 in shady moist lanes. Its stalks are short, and its leaves of pale green, often 

 tinted with purple on the under side. It is less frequent in the south than 

 the north of England, but is very abundant in Scotland, where it sometimes 

 grows even at a considerable elevation. It is usually described as scentless, 

 but, in some instances, it has the odour of the Sweet Violet, though not quite 

 so powerful. 



* * Furnished tvith mi evident stem. 



4. Wood Violet (F. sylvatica). — Eoot-stock short ; leaves heart-shaped, 

 and pointed, forming a rosette ; sepals acute ; stipules long, toothed, and 

 fringed ; bracts awl-shaped, entire. Plant perennial. The flower, unlike 

 that of the scented Violet, is not hidden among the leaves, but stands up on 

 longer stalks, where it may be easily seen. It is usually more abundant than 

 the Sweet Violet, in woods, hedges, and the borders of pastures, and it remains 

 longer in bloom than most of the species, coming with the Sweet Violet, in 

 April, and continuing till July. It is the largest of our native Violets, and, 

 notwithstanding that it is scentless, it is very lovely in its pale blue lilac tint, 

 sometimes in its profusion giving its own peculiar colour to some sunny bank. 

 We have gathered these Violets from the woods of Kent, with the flower 

 twice the size of the scented species, standing on a stalk seven inches high, 

 though the common height is about five inches ; and we have thought that 

 it merited some better name than that of Dog Violet, given to it as well as 

 to V. canina, in a contemptuous spirit, doubtless, because it lacked perfume. 

 The leaves are small and thin, pale green, on long stalks. The flower is 

 easily known from the fragrant species by its look of airiness and grace, and 

 when growing high up in the clefts of rocks, as it sometimes does, it is very 

 attractive. It had an old repute as a medicine in cutaneous disorders, and 

 modern practitioners consider this as not wholly unmerited. In common 

 with all the species of Violet, it has the power of throwing its seeds to a 

 distance; and anyone who in early summer will gather these capsules and 

 place them in the sunshine, may see the mode in which the dispersion of the 



