752 



V I O 



THE UNIVERSAL HERBAL; 



VI 



10. Viola Magellanica; Magellanic Violet. Stemless : 

 leaves kidney-form, repand, villose. Flower large, yellow, 

 with bay-coloured veins. Native of Terra del Fuego. 



11. Viola Odorata ; Sweet Violet. Stemless: runners 

 creeping; leaves cordate, they and the petioles smoothish : 

 calices obtuse; bractes above the middle of the peduncle. 

 Root fibrous, whitish : in old plants the upper part becomes 

 knobby, and appears above ground; the knobs being formed 

 from the base of the petioles, which are left yearly: from 

 the bosom of these knobs spring the scions or runners, which 

 creep on the ground, and are furnished with leaves, and the 

 same kind of stipules which are observable at the bottom of 

 the plant; these runners are very long, and in general do not 

 produce flowers till the second year: flower nodding; corolla 

 dark purple, varying to red, purple, pale flesh-colour, and 

 white, possessing a most grateful fragrance. There are the 

 following varieties of the Common Violet: the Single Blue 

 and White, the Double Blue and White, and the Pale Purple; 

 all of which are generally preserved in gardens. It has been 

 found wild with double flowers, which are then so large, fra- 

 grant, and keep up their succession so long, by appearing 

 later, that they are highly and deservedly valued. -This 

 favourite flower, so universally esteemed for its fine odour, is 

 a native of every part of Europe, in woods, among bushes, 

 in hedges, and on warm banks; flowering in March and April, 

 and ripening its seeds towards the end of summer. It is said 

 to be common in some parts of Barbary, where the blue and 

 white sorts grow promiscuously, and flower in winter. It is 

 known also in Palestine, China, and Japan, where it flowers 

 from January to April, and abounds by the way-sides. The 

 variety with white flowers is very common in the chalky 

 ground near Cambridge : the same was also seen by Dr. 

 Withering growing wild about Birmingham, having the same 

 fragrance, but without the hairs on the inside of the claws, 

 by which that is distinguished. It is of an astringent or 

 binding nature. A strong decoction of the whole plant in 

 water, with the addition of a little red wine, restrains immo- 

 derate menstrual discharges, the bleeeding of the piles, and 

 other haemorrhages. The root powdered, in the dose of a 

 drachm, proves both emetic and cathartic. The syrup is very 

 useful in chemistry, to detect an acid or an alkali; the former 

 changing a blue colour to a red, and the latter to green: for 

 this purpose the Violet is cultivated in great quantities at Strat- 

 ford-upon-Avon. Slips of white paper, stained with the juice 

 of the petals, and kept from the air and light, answer the 

 same purpose. Propagation and Culture. They are easily 

 propagated by parting their roots, which may be performed 

 at two seasons ; the first and most common of which is at 

 Michaelmas, that the young plants may be well rooted by 

 winter : this is generally practised where the plants are put 

 OU the borders of wood-walks in large plantations, but in the 

 gardens where they are cultivated for their flowers, the gar- 

 deners transplant and part them soon aftar their flowering 

 season is over. They gather all the flowers first, and the 

 plants which are then removed, having all the remaining 

 summer to grow and get strength, will produce a greater 

 quantity of flowers in the following spring, than those which 

 are removed in autumn ; but this should not be done where 

 they cannot be supplied with water, till they have taken new 

 root, unless in moist seasons. Place them,' in planting, at a 

 good distance from each other, to allow them room to spread, 

 for if they be expected to produce many flowers, they should 

 not be transplanted oftener than once in three or four years, 

 and in that time the offsets will spread over the ground, if 

 the roots be three feet asunder. They may also lie propa- 

 gated by seed?, whic' 1 should be sown soon after they ripen, 



which will be at the end of August. The plants appear in 

 the next spring, and when fit to remove may be transplanted 

 into shady borders, to grow till autumn, and then they may 

 be planted where they are to remain. The double-flowering- 

 sorts do not produce seeds. The other spring Violets are 

 sometimes preserved in Botanic gardens, and may be propa- 

 gated in the same way as the common sort, but require a 

 moist soil and a shady situation. The upright sort not send- 

 ing out shoots like the Common Violet, increases but slowly 

 by offsets, but may be propagated by seeds, being as hardy 

 as the former. 



12. Viola Palustris ; Marsh Violet. Stemless : leaves kid- 

 ney-form, smooth. Root creeping, whitish, toothed, somewhat 

 fleshy, with many fibres ; flowers solitary, drooping, inodo- 

 rous, paler and smaller than in the other species; sometimes 

 flesh-coloured, with darker red veins ; the two upper petals 

 are scarcely streaked at all, the two lateral ones have one 

 dark longitudinal line, the lowermost is beautifully marked 

 with numerous branched streaks, and terminates in a short 

 blunt spur behind. It is also distinguished from the other 

 species by the greater roundness of its leaves, the paleness of 

 its flowers, and its growing in bogs, or on the moist parts of 

 sandy or turfy heaths. Native of Europe and Japan. It is 

 more common in Scotland and the north of England, than in 

 the southern parts; but is found plentifully on the boggy 

 parts of Shirley common, near Croydon; near Ampthill; be- 

 tween Oxford and Water Eyton ; on Oakenshaw moor ; and 

 in Roadeshall woods; also on the borders of the lake west of 

 Ballyuahinch, in Ireland. 



13. Viola Digitata. Leaves palmate, five to seven lobed; 

 lobes entire ; flowers pale blue. Grows in Virginia. 



14. Viola Dentata; Tooth-leaved Violet. Plant glabrous ; 

 leaves oblong, acute, serrate, suhhastate, toothed at great 

 length ; peduncles shorter than the leaves ; segments of the 

 calix linear; petals three, inferior, bearded at the base; flow- 

 ers nearly of the same colour with those of Viola Sagittata. 

 Grows in the wet meadows and woods of Pennsylvania. 



15. Viola Blanda; White-flowered Violet. Plant glabrous; 

 leaves cordate, remotely serrate; peduncles of the length of 

 the leaves ; petals without beards, the two lateral ones shorter, 

 lowest one longer than the rest, lanceolate; flowers yellowish- 

 white; lower petal marked with blue stripes and veins. Per- 

 ennial. Grows in wet places and bog-meadows, from New 

 York to Carolina. 



16. Viola Sororia ; White-rooted Violet. Leaves cordate, 

 crenate-serrate, obtuse, pubescent underneath; peduncles 

 shorter than the leaves; petals oblong, lowest one bearded 

 at the base, veined ; flowers blue, white at the bottom. 

 Grows in the overflowed meadows of Pennsylvania, &c. 



17. Viola Papilionacea; Butterfly Violet. Leaves trian- 

 gular-cordate, acute, crenate, subcucullate, slightly glabrous ; 

 peduncles of the length of the leaves; petals obovate; flowers 

 blue, elegantly striated, and bearded with yellow down. Per- 

 ennial.- -Grows near Philadelphia, in wet places. 



18. Viola Clandestina; Subterraneous Violet. Plant slightly 

 glabrous; leaves suborbiculate; serratures glandulose; suckers 

 rloriferous; petals linear, scarcely longer than the calix. 

 Grows on the high mountains of Pennsylvania, in shady 

 beech-woods, among rotten wood and rich vegetable mould. 

 This singular species differs from all the rest, in producing 

 its flowers as it were under the ground, being always covered 

 with rotten wood or leaves: they are of a chocolrtte L brown, 

 very small. The seed-vessel buries itself still deeper in the 

 ground, and is large in proportion to the plant. The inha- 

 bitants know it by the name of Heal-all, being used by them 

 in curing all kinds of wounds or sores. 



