V IO 



OR, BOTANICAL DICTIONARY. 



VIO 



753 



** With leafy Stems. 



19. Viola Canina ; Dog's Violet. Stem, when advanced, 

 ascending, channelled; leaves oblong-cordate; calices acute. 

 Root somewhat woody; the first flower radical; but several 

 branched, angular, leafy steins, soon creep forth, and continue 

 growing and bearing numerous flowers for several weeks ; 

 flower-stalks axillary, solitary, erect, square, bearing two 

 awl-shaped bractes in the upper part, and one nodding blue 

 flower. This differs from the Sweet Violet, in having no 

 smell, and the flower is generally larger, and growing from 

 the stem. It produces seed during the summer months, 

 without any expanded corolla. After the flowers of the 

 Sweet Violet are gone, every coppice, heath, hedge, bank, 

 and shady dell, is decorated for two or three months with 

 the paler blossoms of the Dog Violet, which seems to have 

 been named, like the Hedge Rose, to express a degree of 

 inferiority. It varies in the colour of its flowers, in the size 

 of the whole herb, and in the form of the leaves. Sometimes 

 it occurs with a white flower ; at others the spur only is 

 white An alpine variety has been observed in Wales, with 

 a subtriflorous stem, and cordate deeply serrate leaves. 



20. Viola Lactea; Cream-coloured Violet. Stem ascend- 

 ing, round; leaves ovate-lanceolate; stipules gash-serrate. 

 This is quite smooth, and the herb is much smaller in all 

 its parts than the preceding; peduncles axillary, solitary, 

 erect, rising as high as the branches, each bearing above its 

 middle a pair of purplish lanceolate bractes, mostly toothed 

 near their base, and at the top one a nodding flower. It 

 appears in May. Observed in the wolds near Tunbridge 

 Wells, and at Pendarvis in Cornwall. 



21. Viola Montana; Mountain Violet. Stems erec\; leaves 

 cordate, oblong; petioles long, erect, with very large lance- 

 olate bristles; upper petals blue; middle ones pale, bearded; 

 lowest with abroad yellow claw, with deep blue lines: some- 

 times the flower is wholly blue, and sometimes mostly yellow: 

 spur shoit, inodorous. Native of the mountains of Lapland, 

 Germany, and Switzerland. A hardy perennial in our gar- 

 dens, flowering in May and June. 



22. Viola Concolor; Green-flowered Violet. Stem erect; 

 leaves broad-lanceolate, and stipules linear, quite entire; 

 flowers small, pale green, of the same colour with the plant. 

 Native of the bogs of North America. 



23. Viola Nummularifolia. Stems undivided, very short; 

 leaves roundish-cordate, subcrenate ; stipules toothed : root 

 black and knobbed. It is a very small plant, three or four 

 inches high, with the peduncles two-thirds of its length ; 

 flower small, nodding, pale blue or whitish, with a blunt 

 spur half the length of the calix. Native of the alps of 

 Dauphiny, and of Piedmont. 



24. Viola Cenisia. Stems filiform, undivided, procumbent; 

 leaves ovate, petioled, the edge of the base ciiiate; stipules 

 undivided ; flowers large, blue, with a spur, shorter than 

 the petals. Native of Mount Cenis, &c. 



25. Viola Canadensis ; Canadian Violet. Stem erect, 

 roundish ; leaves cordate, acuminate, smooth ; stipules slightly 

 notched, capsule downy. Flowers sweet-scented, externally 

 purplish-blue, internally white, elegantly veined. Native of 

 North America. 



26. Viola Striata; Striated Violet. Stem erect, semiey- 

 lindric; leaves ovate, cordate, acute, serrate; stipules lan- 

 ceolate, serrate, ciliate. Flowers white, with purple veins. 

 Native of Nortli America. Perennial. 



27. Viola Pnbescens; Downy Violet. Stem erect, villose, 

 round, flatfish on one side; leaves cordate, pubescent; sti- 

 pules oblong-, serrulate at the tip. Flowers yellow, with 

 brown veins. Native of North America. * 



28. Viola Mirabilis; Broad-leaved Violet. Stem three- 

 sided; leaves kidney-form, cordate; stipules lanceolate, quite 

 entire; flowers on the stern commonly apetalous. The flow- 

 ers come out early in the spring among the young leaves, 

 smell sweet, and are of a light reddish-purple, with a veiny 

 lip. Found in Sweden, Germany, and Austria. Perennial. 



29. Viola Biflora; Two-flowered Violet. Stem two-flow- 

 ered; leaves kidney-form, serrate; peduncles two, filiform, 

 compressed a little., one terminating the other, axillary ; 

 corollas yellow, the claws of the petals with dark veins. 

 Native of the alps of Europe. 



30. Viola Uniflora; Siberian Violet. Stem one-flowered ; 

 leaves cordate, toothed. Flowers yellow. Native of Siberia. 



31. Viola Decumbeos ; Trailing Violet. Caulescent, pro- 

 cumbent: leaves linear, clustered; corolla blue, spurred. 

 Perennial. Native of the Cape. 



32. Viola Rostrata ; Dark-spur Violet. Plant glabrous ; 

 leaves cordate, acute, serrate; peduncles as long again as the 

 leaves; stipules lanceolate, serrate-ciliate; nectaries rostrate, 

 longer than the corolla ; flowers blue. Grows on shady rocks, 

 near Eastown, Pennsylvania. 



33. Viola Hastata; Halbert-leaved Violet. Plant glabrous; 

 stem simple, leafy on the upper part ; leaves hastate, with short 

 petioles; stipules minute, denticulate; flowers yellow. Grows 

 on high mountains from Pennsylvania to Carolina. 



34. Viola Nuttallii ; Yellow Missouri Violet. This species 

 was discovered by Mr. Thomas Nuttall, and named by Fursh 

 after its discoverer. Mr. Nuttall's desciiption of it is as fol- 

 lows: Plant perennial; stem simple, erect, and leafy, from 

 four to six inches high; leaves lanceolate-ovate, entire, atten- 

 uated down the petiole, opaque; margin and nerves minutely 

 pubescent; leaf and petiole three to four inches long, scarcely 

 half an inch wide; stipules long, linear-lanceolate, entire ; 

 flowers small, yellow; petal.s purplish on the under side; seg- 

 ments of the calix linear-lanceolate, acute ; stigma capitate, 

 erostrate, nearly smooth. It flowers in May. Grows near 

 the confluence of Rock river and the Missouri, and from 

 thence to the mountains. This is the only species of Viola 

 on the plains of the Missouri, from the confluence of the 

 river Platte to Fort Mandan. 



** Stipules pinnatifld ; Stigmn vrceolate. 



35. Viola Tricolor; Pansy Violet, or Henri's Ease. Stem 

 angular, diffused; leaves oblong, tooth-crenate; stipules lyrate, 

 pinnatifid. Rootannual, simple, fibrous; peduncles axillary, 

 solitary, longer than the leaves; lower ones spreading, some- 

 what declining, with a pair of small bractes at a short dis- 

 tance below the flower; petals obcordate, shorter than the 

 calix, and whitish or yellow-white in its truly wild state, 

 when it appears as a weed among corn ; but in gardens the 

 petals are longer than the calix, and are variegated with 

 yellow and purple. Some of the varieties have very large and 

 beautiful odoriferous flowers, others have small scentless ones ; 

 some have the two upper petals of a deep yellow colour, with 

 a purple spot in each, the two middle of a paler yellow, with 

 a deep yellow spot, and the lower petal like velvet; in others 

 again the petals are white, with yellow and purple spots; in 

 some the yellow is the most prevailing colour, and in others 

 purple. This has always been a favourite flower with the 

 vulgar, who it is to be feared will never be so thoroughly re- 

 fined as to value any thing highly merely because it may 

 happen to be scarce. Most of the provincial names bear 

 strong allusions to love, viz. 'Kiss me behind the garden 

 gate;' ' Call me to you;' ' Three faces under a hood;' thou"-h 

 Heart's Ease, the name by which it is now generally known, 

 seems to bear no affinity to the tender passion. It was re- 

 presented by old writers as a powerful medicine in epilepsy, 



