184 PROSERPINA. 



plants when once it leaves its wild home. It is given by Sib* 

 thorpe from the Trojan Olympus, with an exquisitely delicate 

 leaf ; the flower described as " triste et pallide violaceus," 

 but coloured in his plate full purple ; and as he does not say 

 whether he went up Olympus to gather it himself, or only saw 

 it brought down by the assistant whose lovely drawings are 

 yet at Oxford, I take leave to doubt his epithets. That this 

 should be the only Violet described in a ' Flora Grseca ' ex- 

 tending to ten folio volumes, is a fact in modern scientific his- 

 tory which I must leave the Professor of Botany and the Dean 

 of Christ Church to explain. 



34. The English varieties seem often to be yellow in the 

 lower petals, (see Sowerby's plate, 1287 of the old edition) ; 

 crossed, I imagine, with Viola Aurea, (but see under Viola 

 Rupestris, No. 12) ; the names, also, varying between tricolor 

 and bicolor with no note anywhere of the three colours, or 

 two colours, intended ! 



The old English names are many. ' Love in idleness,' 

 making Lysander, as Titania, much wandering in mind, and 

 for a time mere ' Kits run the street ' (or run the wood ?) 

 " Call me to you " (Gerarde, ch. 299, Sowerby, No. 178), with 

 ' Herb Trinity,' from its three colours, blue, purple, and gold, 

 variously blended in different countries ? ' Three faces under 

 a hood ' describes the English variety only. Said to be the 

 ancestress of all the florists' pansies, but this I much doubt, 

 the next following species being far nearer the forms most 

 chiefly sought for. 



35. III. VIOLA ALPINA. 'Freneli's Pansy' my own name 

 for it, from Gotthelf's Freneli, in ' Ulric the Farmer ' ; the en- 

 tirely pure and noble type of the Bernese maid, wife, and 

 mother. 



The pansy of the Wengern Alp in specialty, and of the 

 higher, but still rich, Alpine pastures. Full dark-purple ; at 

 least an inch across the expanded petals ; I believe, the ' Mater 

 Violarum ' of Gerarde ; and true black violet of Virgil, remain- 

 ing in Italian * Viola Mammola ' (Gerarde, ch. 298). 



36. IV. VIOLA AUREA. Golden Violet. Biflora usually ; but 

 its brilliant yellow is a much more definite characteristic ; and 



