HEART'S EASE 107 



of the wild plant, and is either white or crimson in colour. Iberis 

 uuibellata, which came from Canclia, is a larger Mower. 



It is endowed with a very bitter taste, but has not been largely 

 used except as a Cress or for such complaints as sciatica. It is not 

 now employed for any such purposes. 



ESSENTIAL SPECIFIC CHARACTERS: 



36. Iberis amara, L. Stem branched, spreading, leaves lanceolate, 

 dentate, flowers in a corymb, petals unequal, the outer radiant, white 

 or lilac, pods orbicular, winged, notched, with triangular lobes. 



Heart's Ease (Viola arvensis. Murr.) 



This plant has not been found in seed-bearing beds. The Marsh 

 Violet, however, is found in beds ranging from the Pre-glacial to 

 the Neolithic period. It is to-day found in the Temperate and 

 Arctic Zones in Arctic Europe, X. Africa, X. and \V. Asia, as far 

 as Siberia and XAV. India. It is found in every county in Great 

 Britain, as far as Shetland, as well as in Ireland and the Channel 

 Islands. In Yorkshire and in Scotland it is found at altitudes of 

 1000 ft. 



Heart's Ease is one of the commonest cornfield weeds, coming up 

 not only in the furrows, but covering every available space it can 

 obtain. In its forms it varies tremendously, and V. tricolor or the 

 garden form will revert to a form like this. It is found also on waste 

 ground around farmyards and by the wayside. 



The stem is angular, spreading, and branched, and more or less 

 lies on the ground except at the tip, the leaves have long stalks, and 

 are narrowly elliptical, with rounded teeth or oval, the stipules are 

 divided with lobes larger upwards, or deeply divided, and very variable. 

 The whole plant is slender and delicate. Many plants grow together 

 in a station, and vary much in general habit according to the crops 

 with which they grow. 



The flowers are white with a yellow centre, and the calyx is longer 

 than the petals, and hairy. The capsule is rounded, and contains 

 numerous brown shining smooth seeds, inversely egg-shaped. 



The plant is usually 6 in. high, sometimes 9. It is in tlower for 

 nearly six months, from April onward. It is annual, and reproduced 

 by the numerous seeds. 



The Heart's Ease is pollinated by Thrips, though Darwin said if 

 bees were excluded it was more or less barren. When the flowers 

 were covered up they yielded only 18 capsules, in which some pos- 



