25 



N. Ord. VIOLACE^. Lindl., Veg. Kingd., p. 338; Baill., Hist. 



PL, iv; Le Maout & Dec., p. 240. 

 Tribe Violea. 



Genus Viola,* Linn. B. & H. Gen., i, p. 117 ; Baill., 1. c., p. 

 351. Over 200 species are described, principally natives of 

 the temperate northern hemisphere, but some found in S. 

 America, S. Africa, and Australia. 



25. Viola odorata, Linn., Sp. Plant., ed. l,p. 934 (1753). 



Sweet Violet. 



Syn. Y. suavis, Bieb. Y. imberbis, Leighton. Y. alba, Bess&r. 

 Figures. Woodville, t. 89 ; Hayne, iii, t. 2 ; Steph. & Ch., t. 29 ; Nees, 



t. 386; Berg & Sch., t. 16 b; Curt., Fl. Londin., fasc. 1; Syme, Eng. 



Bot., ii, t. 171 ; Baill., 1. c., iv, figs. 363-6. 



Description. A small perennial herb with a short semi-subter- 

 ranean rather fleshy stem (rootstock), the older part emitting fibrous 

 roots, the upper younger portion still marked with the close 

 circular scars of the, leaves of former years, and giving off elon- 

 gated, rather fleshy, leafless runners which root at the end and 

 thus form independent plants. Leaves crowded on the upper 

 part of the short stem (radical), involute before expansion, on long, 

 cylindrical, very shortly hairy stalks, stipules semi-membranous, 

 lanceolate, acute, with glandular cilia on the edge, blade 1 2 

 inches long (at the time of flowering), roundish-ovate, deeply cordate 

 at the base, somewhat blunt at the apex, crenate- serrate at the 

 margin, undulated, strongly veined, with very short hairs on the 

 edges and veins, otherwise smooth, dark green. Flowers solitary, 

 ^ J inch wide, on long, slender, axillary stalks (scapes) exceeding 

 the leaves, with a pair of small linear-lanceolate bracts about or a 

 little above their middle, and stiffly crooked at the ends so that 

 the flowers nod. Sepals 5, oblong, blunt, slightly hairy on the 

 edges., each produced backwards into a flat, blunt process, 

 persistent. Petals 5, unequal, the odd one inferior, spreading, 

 imbricate, obtuse, bluish-purple, the lowest one largest marked with 

 dark veins and prolonged backwards into a short, blunt, nearly 



* Viola, in Greek tot/, the classical name for V. odorata, but also applied to 

 a few other plants. 



