VIOLETS. 45 



Hooker considers this gum ladanum to be the myrrh (" Loth"), 

 mentioned in Genesis xxxvii. 25, and to have been among 

 the spices brought from Gilead to Egypt by the Ishmaelites. 

 A crimson species which grows wild in Palestine is supposed to 

 be the Hose of Sharon. 



The VIOLET FAMILY has five sepals, five petals, five stamens, 

 and one prominent hooded stigma. The ovary has three valves, 

 and when it bursts it throws the seed with violence, so that it 

 is scattered to a considerable distance. The Sweet Violet 

 (Viola odorata, Plate IV., Jig. 3), is a general favourite. My 

 earliest remembrances are of "violetting" in fields about 

 Wicklifle Lane and Littlethorpe, near Ripon, and of the joy 

 we experienced as we gathered little baskets full of the purple 

 and white varieties. They are much scarcer about Richmond, 

 and are so seldom found in Scotland as to be termed there 

 " English Violets." Fanny has a pink variety from Maiden 

 Bradley, in Somerset, a county very prolific in this favourite 

 flower. The tint is the same as that of the double Russian 

 Violet which is cultivated in our gardens. The double purple 

 one is a variety of the common Sweet Violet. These humble 

 flowers have a wide range of habitation. They flourish at the 

 foot of the Alps and in Arabia Felix ; and Hurnboldt gathered 

 them on the sides of the Andes and in the vallies of the Amazon. 

 Napoleon Buonaparte adopted this flower as his emblem, and 

 he was called " Pere la Violette." Nor is the value of the 

 Violet a fancy of recent origin ; in the middle ages the prize 

 awarded to the best poet was a golden Violet, 



" And in the golden vase was set 

 The prize a golden Violet" 



Milton depicts them as adorning the sinless earth, and 

 Shakespeare honours them with his notice. 



The juice of the Violet is used in medicine, and the plant is 

 cultivated for that purpose. There are extensive Violet grounds 

 near Stratford-on-Avon. This Violet juice forms the most 

 delicate test for detecting acids and alkalies. The Romans 



