34 FAMILIAR WILD FLOWERS. 



point out, means odorous. Many plant-names thus owe 

 their origin to some peculiarity that it is desired to 

 emphasise in the mind when naming- the plant, not only 

 the fragrance of the blossom, but also its colour or that of 

 the fruit, the texture of the leaf, the general growth, and 

 many other structural features being introduced ; of these 

 the upright St. John's wort, shrubby cinquefoil, red-berried 

 bryony, rough-fruited bedstraw, alternate-leaved saxifrage, 

 tuberous carraway, perfoliate honeysuckle, and curled dock 

 are a few examples out of many. The same influence has 

 largely affected the scientific names, thus we meet with 

 pedunculata, stalked ; acre, bitter ; mollis, soft ; acutus, 

 sharply pointed, and a great variety of other titles of the 

 same character. 



The sweet violet has a perennial root-stock, and from 

 this runners are generally freely given off ; it is not, there- 

 fore, a difficult plant to cultivate, though care must be 

 taken to approximate the conditions of growth to those 

 that are natural to the plant. In a state of nature it will 

 always be found to be a lover of the shade, growing either 

 amidst the long grass and herbage of the hedge-bank, and 

 shielded by them, or in woods or other spots where some 

 little shelter is obtainable, and it would on this account 

 escape the cursory glance, its fragrant odour, however, 

 often revealing its whereabouts. The leaves are given off 

 at intervals along the creeping stems, and form a good 

 example of what is botanically termed a cordate, or heart- 

 shaped leaf. The leaves are often considerably larger than 

 the space at our disposal will allow us to represent in our 

 illustration. The flowers are generally of a deep purple 

 colour, though sometimes they are of a pale reddish purple, 

 and often pure white ; all, irrespective of colour, are equally 



