SWEET \10LET.—Fwla odorata. 



Class Pentandria. Orclei^ Moxogtnia. Nat. Orel. Yiolacej:. 

 Violet Tribe. 



The sweet blue and white Violets are among 

 the first favourites of our childhood. We find 

 them in March ; hence our old writers called 

 them the ^larch Violet ; but they are still more 

 abundant in April than in the earlier month. 

 They grow on way-sides, and many a copse- 

 wood in Eno'land mio'ht remind us of the 

 poet's description : — 



" There purple violets lurk, 

 With all the lovely children of the shade." 



But it is not poets only wdio have praised 

 the Violet. ^lahomet said of it that it excelled 

 all other flowers ; and in Eastern lands it is 

 continually referred to as an image of sweetness. 

 The modern Arabians compare the eyelids to 

 a Violet dropping dew ; and the odour of its 

 half-hidden flower makes it a fit emblem of 

 modesty. The sweet Violet is a native of 

 every part of Europe. Lane, in his "Arabian 

 Nights," says sherbet is made of the Violet 

 by pounding the flowers and boiling them 



