VIOLA. 187 



Linnaeus as having triangular stalks, " caule triquetro," mean- 

 ing, I suppose, the kind sketched in Figure 1 above. 



39. VII. VIOLA ARVENSIS. Field Violet. Flora Danica, 1748. 

 A coarse running weed ; nearly like Viola Cornuta, but 

 feebly lilac and yellow in colour. In dry fields, and with corn. 



Flora Suecica, 791 ; under titles of Viola ' tricolor ' and 'bi- 

 color arvensis,' and Herba Trinitatis. Habitat ubique in stcri- 

 libus axvis : "Planta vix datur in qua evidentius perspicitur 

 generationis opus, quam in hujus cavo apertoque stigmate." 



It is quite undeterminable, among present botanical in- 

 structors, how far this plant is only a rampant and over-in- 

 dulged condition of the true pansy (Viola Psyche) ; but my 

 own scholars are to remember that the true pansy is full 

 purple and blue with golden centre ; and that the disorderly 

 field varieties of it, if indeed not scientifically distinguishable, 

 are entirely separate from the wild flower by their scattered 

 form and faded or altered colour. I follow the Flora Danica 

 in giving them as a distinct species. 



40. VTII. VIOLA PALUSTRIS. Marsh Violet. Flora Danica, 

 83. As there drawn, the most finished and delicate in form 

 of all the violet tribe ; warm white, streaked with red ; and as 

 pure in outline as an oxalis, both in flower and leaf ; ifc is like 

 a violet imitating oxalis and auagallis. 



In' the Flora Suecica, the petal-markings are said to be 

 black ; in ' Viola lactea ' a connected species, (Sowerby, 45,) 

 purple. Sowerby's plate of it under the name ' palustris ' is 

 pale purple veined with darker ; and the spur is said to be 

 * honey-bearing,' which is the first mention I find of honey in 

 the violet. The habitat given, sandy and turfy heaths. It is 

 said to grow plentifully near Croydon. 



Probably, therefore, a violet belonging to the chalk, on 

 which nearly all herbs that grow wild from the grass to the 

 bluebell are singularly sweet and pure. I hope some of my 

 botanical scholars will take up this question of the effect of 

 different rocks on vegetation, not so much in bearing different 

 species of plants, as different characters of each species.* 



* The great work of Lecoq, * Geographic Botanique,' is of priceless 

 value ; but treats all ou too vast a scale for our purposes. 



