BLUE AND PURPLE 



ness it was used as a remedy for liver-complaints, the common 

 people having long labored under the belief that nature in- 

 dicated in some such fashion the uses to which her creations 

 might be applied." 



COMMON BLUE VIOLET. 



Viola cucullata. Violet Family. 



Scape. Slender, one -flowered. Leaves. Heart-shaped, all from the 

 root. Flowers. Varying from a pale blue to deep purple, borne singly on 

 a scape. Calyx. Of five sepals extended into ears at the base. Corolla. 

 Of five somewhat unequal petals, the lower one spurred at the base. Sta- 

 mens. Short and broad, somewhat united around the pistil. Pistil. One 

 with a club-shaped style and bent stigma. 



Perhaps this is the best-beloved as well as the best-known of 

 the early wild flowers. Whose heart has not been gladdened at 

 one time or another by a glimpse of some fresh green nook in 

 early May where 



purple violets lurk, 

 With all the lovely children of the shade ? 



It seems as if no other flower were so suggestive of the dawning 

 year, so associated with the days when life was full of promise. 

 Although I believe that more than a hundred species of violets 

 have been recorded, only about thirty are found in our country ; 

 of these perhaps twenty are native to the Northeastern States. 

 Unfortunately we have no strongly sweet-scented species, none 



sweeter than the lids of Juno's eyes 

 Or Cytherea's breath, 



as Shakespeare found the English blossom. Prophets and war- 

 riors as well as poets have favored the violet ; Mahomet preferred 

 it to all other flowers, and it was chosen by the Bonapartes as 

 their emblem. 



Perhaps its frequent mention by ancient writers is explained 

 by the discovery that the name was one applied somewhat indis- 

 criminately to sweet-scented blossoms. 



The bird-foot violet, V. pedata, unlike other members of the 

 family, has leaves which are divided into linear lobes. Its flower 

 is peculiarly lovely, being large and velvety. The variety, V. bi- 



230 . 



