THE SWEET VIOLET. , 35 



fragrant. The deep purple flowers give their name to the 

 colour, violet, that is called after them, in the same way 

 that people speak of pea-green or canary, terms equally 

 suggested by the tints of natural objects. The violet 

 flowers in the early spring, about the third week of 

 February being the earliest date at which it will be met 

 with, while by the end of April the time of blossoming will 

 have expired. Our dates refer exclusively to the plant in 

 a wild state ; if dealing with the plant under the influence 

 of cultivation these dates would require considerable modi- 

 fication. The flowers, it will be noticed in our illustration, 

 are spurred. The sepals, the parts composing the calyx, 

 are very obtuse in form. 



The hairy violet (V. hirta) bears a very considerable 

 i-esemblance to the species we have illustrated. The main 

 points of difference are as follows : In the hairy violet 

 the flowers are almost or quite scentless; it but rarely 

 throws out the trailing shoots that are so characteristic a 

 feature in the sweet violet ; the hairs on the stem are in 

 the sweet violet deflexed, while in the hairy violet they 

 are spreading, and are thus more conspicuous, sufficiently 

 so to give the familiar name to the plant; and, in con- 

 clusion, the little scales called bracts, that in our drawing 

 are seen on the flower-stems, are in the sweet violet 

 ordinarily above the middle of the stalk, while in the 

 hairy violet they are ordinarily (in neither case invariably) 

 below this point. 



The marsh violet ( V. palustris] , the dog violet ( V. can ina] , 

 and the heartsease or pansy (V. tricolor] are other well- 

 defined species of indigenous violets. The sweet violet is 

 one of the favourite flowers of the poets, and many pleasing 

 passages might easily be collected did space permit. 



