138 FAMILIAR WILD FLOWERS. 



general form of its foliage, which is much more cut up 

 than in any of the other species, and by the very large 

 foliaceous stipules at the bases of the true leaves. The 

 stem, too, branches much more thaii we commonly find in 

 the other members of the genus. 



Besides the free branching of the stem, it is generally 

 very angular; a section cut across it would not give the 

 circular form that we should find in the stems of so many 

 other plants. The leaves are deeply cut into rounded 

 lobes, the terminal one being considerably the largest. In 

 the other species the foliage is ordinarily very simple 

 in general outline, reniform, or heart-shaped, and having 

 its edge finely toothed. The form of the stipules in the 

 hearths-ease can hardly be clearly described without the 

 use of technical terms that we desire as much as possible 

 to exclude from our present pages ; but our readers will 

 readily gather an idea of their nature from our illustra- 

 tion, where they necessarily form a conspicuous feature. 

 The flowers vary a great deal in colour, but are either 

 purple, yellow, or white, and most commonly there is 

 a combination of all these colours in each blossom. 

 The upper petals are generally most showy in colour, 

 and purple in tint, while the lowest and broadest petal 

 is usually a more or less deep tint of yellow ; in some 

 cases as pale as what we often hear people call straw- 

 colour, while in other examples it is full and rich. The 

 spur at the back of the flower, produced by an elongation 

 of the base of the lowest petal, is a feature that is in an 

 especial manner a characteristic of our various species of 

 violets, and one possessed by very few other flowers. The 

 flowers of the heart's-ease are in due course succeeded by 

 the little capsules of seeds. In all the other species of 



