INTRODUCTION 3 



Pansies. However, with new times come new ideas, and 

 if a Pansy is big enough and gaudy enough in these days 

 it is approved by a large section of the public. 



Viola is the Latin name for the whole genus, and from 

 species within this genus all modern Pansies and Violas 

 have developed. Why, then, has Viola been made an 

 English term and applied to merely a section of the genus ? 

 It is impossible to say, but the term has come to stay, 

 and every one recognises that the so-called Violas provide 

 the finest hardy bedding plants known. By some who 

 object to the term "Viola" this strain is called "Tufted 

 Pansies " ; but this term is more misleading than the other, 

 and its use should be discouraged. The name "Violetta" 

 is applied to a small growing strain of Violas which has 

 very sweetly scented flowers ; the plants are very flori- 

 ferous and dwarf and tufted in growth. 



Sweet Violets, which are well known even to dwellers in 

 the great cities, where they are constantly offered for sale 

 in bunches in the streets and shops during the winter and 

 spring months, are descendants of the wild species Viola 

 odorata, so plentiful in the pastures and hedgerows of 

 Southern Britain, but rare in Scotland. 



