CLASS . ORDER I.] VIOLA. 3 15 



English Botany, t. 894. English Flora, vol. i. p. 302. Hooker, 

 British Flora, vol. i. p. 120. Lindley, Synopsis, p. 36. 



Root strong, round. Runners very short, or wanting, but not taking 

 root. Leaves numerous, from the axis of a lanceolate, simple, or 

 toothed stipule, on a long channeled hairy footstalk, oblong, heart- 

 shaped, more or less deeply cut at the base, the margin crenated, 

 downy above, beneath hairy, with a strong mid-rib and lateral branched 

 veins. Flower stalk longer than the leaves, angular, simple, smooth, 

 bearing below its middle a pair of lanceolate smooth bractea. Flower 

 solitary, drooping. The calyx of rive obtuse smooth pieces. Corolla 

 palish blue, with darker veins, of five irregular petals, scentless, the 

 two upper ones narrowest, and mostly entire, as are the two lateral 

 ones, each of which has a central line of short white hairs, the lower 

 petal larger and notched. Anthers surrounding the style, but not 

 united, each tipped with an orange-coloured thin membrane. Style 

 short. Stigma an oblique point. Capsule roundish, hairy, of three 

 cells, and numerous seeds'; its footstalk elongates after flowering, be- 

 comes prostrate on the earth, and mostly buries the capsules beneath 

 the soil. 



Habitat. Woods, pastures, and banks ; not uncommon in England, 

 especially in a calcareous soil. Rare in Scotland, fand apparently only 

 about Edinburgh. Sand fields in Ireland, on banks by the sea be- 

 tween Clontarf and Kilbarrick Church, near Portmarnock, and else- 

 where about Dublin, and woods at Blarney, near Cork. 



Perennial; flowering in April and May. 



It is probable this species is frequently overlooked as V. odorata, 

 from which, upon examination, it will be found to differ, especially in 

 the want of runners, in its hairiness, and its being spreading, the want 

 of odour in the flowers, the situation of the bracteas, and the shape and 

 hairs upon the capsules. 



2. V. odor'ata, Linn. (Fig. 385.) sweet Violet. Leaves broadly 

 heart-shaped, nearly smooth, as well as the petioles. Calyx sepals 

 obtuse, lateral petals with an hairy line. Capsule smooth, on a prostrate 

 peduncle. Runners long, creeping. 



English Botany, t. 619. English Flora, vol. i. p. 302. Hooker, 

 British Flora, vol. i. p. 120. Lindley, Synopsis, p. 35. 



Root with long branched fibres, sending out numerous long runners, 

 and putting out at intervals long fibrous roots, where leaves and flowers 

 spring, and a new plant is established, the whole plant smooth, or 

 scattered over with a few short hairs, which are deflexed. Leaves 

 arising from the axis of simple lanceolate or ovate-lanceolate toothed 

 stipules, on long channeled footstalks, broadly heart-shaped, with a 

 mid-rib, and lateral veins nearly of the same size, the margin more or 

 less deeply crenated. Flowers single, on a round or somewhat angular 

 VOL. i. 2 x 



