VIO 



OR, BOTANICAL DICTIONARY. 



V IO 



751 



3. Vinca Lutea; Yellow Periwinkle. Stem twining; leaves 

 oblong. Native of Carolina. 



4. Vinca Rosea; Madagascar Periwinkle. Stem suflfru- 

 tescent, erect; flowers in pairs, sessile; leaves ovate-oblong; 

 petioles two-toothed at the base. Stem bushy, quite erect, 

 three feet high: the branches have the joints very close, and 

 are covered with a smooth purple bark. The flowers are axil- 

 lary and solitary, on very short peduncles ; the upper sur- 

 face of the petals is of a bright crimson or peach-colour, 

 and their under side pale flesh-colour. There is a succession 

 of flowers from February to the end of October. Those 

 which appear early in the summer are succeeded by taper 

 seed-vessels, filled with roundish black seeds, which ripen in 

 autumn. The seeds of this beautiful plant were originally 

 brought from the island of Madagascar. They should be 

 sown upon a moderate hot-bed in the spring, and when the 

 plants are fit to remove, transplant them into a fresh hot-bed, 

 at about four inches' distance, shading them till they have 

 taken new root : then treat them in the same way as other 

 natives of warm countries; taking great care to prevent their 

 growing up weak, and not giving them too much water. 

 When the plants have obtained strength, take them up care- 

 fully with balls of earth to their roots; plant them in pots 

 filled with good earth, and plunge them into a moderate hot- 

 bed to facilitate their taking new root, observing to screen 

 them from the sun, and, when they are well rooted, to inure 

 them gradually to bear the open air: but unless the summer 

 prove warm, these plants should not be placed in the open 

 air, for they will not thrive if exposed to cold and wet; there- 

 fore, even during the summer, they should be placed in an 

 airy glass-case, and in winter remove them into the stove, 

 where the air is kept to a temperate heat. It may also be 

 increased by cuttings from the young shoots, planted in pots 

 during any of the summer months. Plunge the pots into a 

 moderate hot-bed, and if they are closely covered with bell or 

 hand glasses, they will put out roots the more readily; when 

 they have so done, they must be gradually hardened, and 

 afterwards planted in larger pots, and treated as the seedling 

 plants. 



5. Vinca Parviflora ; Small-floivered Periwinkle. Stem 

 herbaceous, erect; leaves lanceolate, acute. Stem about a 

 span high, slightly branched; flowers at the sides, and often 

 at the top of the stem, in pairs. It flowers here in August. 

 Native of the East Indies. 



Vine. See Vitis. 



Viola; a genus of the class Pentandria, order Monogynia. 

 GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix : perianth five-leaved, 

 short, permanent; leaflets ovate, oblong, erect, more acute at 

 the tip, obtuse at the base, fastened above the base, equal, 

 but variously disposed, of which two support the uppermost 

 petal, two others each a second and third lateral petals, and 

 the remaining one the two lowest petals together. Corolla: 

 five-petalled, irregular; petals unequal; the uppermost petal 

 straight, turned downwards, wider, blunter, emarginate, 

 finishing at the base in a blunt horned nectary, prominent 

 between the leaflets of the cahx; the two lateral ones paired, 

 opposite, obtuse, straight; the two lowest paired, bigger, 

 reflexed upwards. Stamina: filamenta five, very small, two 

 of them, which are nearest to the uppermost petal, enter the 

 nectary by annexed appendages; anther commonly con- 

 nected, obtuse, increased by membranes at the tip. Pistil: 

 germen superior, roundish ; style filiform, prominent beyond 

 the antheree; stigmas oblique. Pericarp: capsule ovate, 

 three-cornered, obtuse, one-celled, three-valved. Seeds: 

 many, ovate, appendicled, fastened to the valves; receptacle 

 linear, running like a line along each valve. Observe. The 



VOL. II. 128. 



stigma, in the common March Violet, Viola Odorata, and its 

 allies, is a simple reflexed hook ; in the Pansy tribe, it is a 

 concave head, perforated at the top. In the European 

 species, the flower is always inverted ; in the Indian, it is 

 commonly straight ; hence they have a different appearance. 

 ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Calix : five-leaved. Corolla: 

 five-petalled, irregular, horned at the back. Antherce'. 

 cohering. Capsule: superior, one-celled, three-valved. 

 The species are, 



* Stemless. 



1. Viola Palmata; Palmated Violet. Stemless: leaves 

 palmate, five-Iobed, toothed, and undivided. Root peren- 

 nial; flowers light blue, whitish at the base. This singular 

 species is rare in this country, having no sweet scent to re- 

 commend it. Native of Virginia. This and the next species 

 will succeed best by putting them in pots, filled with loam 

 and bog earth mixed, and plunged in a north border, where 

 they may be sheltered in winter, or taken up and kept in a 

 common hot-bed frame. 



2. Viola Pedata; Multifid-leaved Violet. Stemless: leaves 

 pedate, seven-parted, sometimes divided into nine parts or 

 lobes. The flowers stand upon naked footstalks ; they are 

 light blue, and have no scent. Native of North America. 



3. Viola Pinnata; Pinnate-leaved Violet. Stemless: leaves 

 pinnatifid; root slender, branched. This is rather smaller 

 than the preceding species ; the flower is pale blue, with 

 darker veins, small, and on a scape three or four inches in 

 length. Native of the mountains of southern Europe. 



4. Viola Sagittata; Arrow-leaved Violet. Stemless: leaves 

 oblong, acute, cordate, sagittate, serrate, cut at the base ; 

 flowers blue, lower petal white towards the bottom, with pur- 

 ple veins ; the rest longer and narrower, and white towards 

 the base. It is perennial. Native of Pennsylvania. 



5. Viola Lanceolate ; Spear-leaved Violet. Stemless : leaves 

 lanceolate, crenate. Flowers white. Native of Canada. 



6. Viola Obliqua; Oblique-flowered Violet. Stemless: 

 leaves cordate, acute, flattish, smooth; flowers erect; petals 

 bent obliquely ; they are oblong-ovate, straw-coloured, blue 

 at the base. It flowers in May and June. Native of Penn- 

 sylvania and Virginia. 



7. Viola Cucullata; Hollow-leaved Violet. Stemless: 

 leaves cordate, sharpish, cowled at the base; flowers invert- 

 ed ; petals bent obliquely. Native of North America. 



8. Viola Primulifolia; Primrose-leaved Violet. Stemless: 

 leaves oblong, subcordate ; petioles membranaceous. It 

 flowers in June. Native of North America. 



9. Viola Hirta ; Hairy Violet. Stemless : leaves cordate, 

 they and the petioles hairy, hispid; calices obtuse; bractes 

 below the middle of the peduncles. Root somewhat woody, 

 fibrous; the whole herb of a hoary green, clothed with a soft 

 pubescence; flower nodding, blue, scentless. It throws out 

 leafy stalks, but then they are not procumbent, nor do they 

 ever strike root as those of the eleventh species ; hence it 

 does not increase so fast, nor spread so wide. There is also 

 some difference in their places of growth, this being confined 

 to a calcareous soil, and often occurs in more exposed situa- 

 tions, nor is it so common as the Sweet Violet. Native of 

 various parts of Europe. It has been long since observed 

 about Charlton, in the way to Lewisham, and near Sitting- 

 bourn, in Kent; in several parts of Essex; on the road from 

 Ashley to Silverton Steeple ; upon the confines of Cambridge- 

 shire, towards Suffolk; in the Coppices of Oxfordshire, Shot- 

 over Hill, Stow wood, and in Magdalene College woods; 

 upon Moorbarns, and at Cherry Hinton, in Cambridgeshire: 

 at Markham, in Norfolk; at Baston Hill, in Bedfordshire; and 

 on St. Vincent's rocks, near Bristol. 



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