NOTES. 109 



the others, but being less sweet, while the Calathian 

 Violet is also without scent. 



A little farther on he describes the Iris itself, and says 

 ** the stem of this plant is a cubit in length and erect, 

 the flower being of various colours like the rainbow, to 

 which circumstance it is indebted for its name." It is, 

 he adds, a plant of a caustic nature, and the root is used 

 in perfumery and medicine, but the flower is never employed 

 for garlands. 



After this, perhaps, it is needless to add that of 

 course Lord Stanhope is mistaken in supposing that 

 there are no Yellow Violets (he may find any number 

 half-way up the Rigi), or that Violets do not often grow 

 in sunny and sterile places, or that the Purple Violet has 

 not a fleshy root-stock. 



That the Sweet Violet, which Pliny says was used for 

 wreath-making, was generally cultivated is certain from 



Horace's 



" Turn violaria et 

 Myrtus, et omnis copia nanum 

 Spargent olivetis odorem." 



Odes, ii. 1 5. 



Then, again, the Sweet Violet was used for the flavour- 

 ing of wine the " vinum violatum." 



There are other passages in which Pliny speaks of 

 the sweetness of the Violet. He says it is sweetest at 

 a distance, and that it has no scent except in the flower 

 itself. 



There can be no doubt then whatever (I conceive) 

 that the Greeks, when they spoke of the "ion," or the 

 Romans of the "Viola," generally meant our Violet, 

 and that the Violet-wreaths were made from this familiar 

 flower. 



