CHAPTER XI 



THE GENUS VIOLA 



SOME OF THE PRINCIPAL SPECIES 



THE Viola family is a large one, consisting of about 200 

 species, the greater number being spread over the northern 

 temperate regions, while thirty are found in South America, 

 two in South Africa, and eight in Australia and New 

 Zealand. They are beautiful, woodland plants, and they 

 also inhabit hedge banks, open pastures, and cultivated 

 fields. Most of the species are perennial, and the plants 

 are of dwarf habit. In this country they are nearly all 

 easy to grow in light, rich soil, preferably in half-shady 

 situations, although many of them flourish in the open 

 border. In many of the species the flowers are cleisto- 

 gamous, the larger petalled flowers appearing first, but 

 producing little or no seed, while later, small petalled 

 fertile flowers are produced which furnish seed. The 

 section to which the Pansy (V. tricolor) belongs is an ex- 

 ception, for in this case all the flowers are fertile. Violas 

 can be propagated by division of the roots, by seeds, 

 runners, or cuttings. About fifty species are in cultivation, 



