5 8 Violariece Viola . 



1. VlOLA. 



Annual or perennial, rarely somewhat shrubby herbs. Leaves 

 alternate, with persistent often foliaceous stipules. Peduncles 

 axillary, usually one-flowered. Many species produce dimor- 

 phous flowers. The Spring flowers are usually sterile, and the 

 small apetalous Summer ones fertile. Sepals nearly equal, 

 produced downwards below the point of insertion. Petals 

 spreading, the lower often larger and spurred or saccate at the 

 base. Anthers subsessile, the connective broad with a mem- 

 branous terminal appendage, the two lower stamens often 

 spurred. Capsule 3-valved, with 3 parietal placentas, open- 

 ing with elasticity. Seeds numerous, albuminous ; testa 

 crustaceous, often shiny. A genus of about a hundred species, 

 very widely distributed, the majority in the northern hemi- 

 sphere. The name is the ancient Latin one for plants of this 

 genus. 



1. MELANIUM. Upper petals erect. Stipules large and 

 ,-Jj leaf -like. 



1. V. tricolor. Heartsease or Pansy (fig. 42). Even in the 

 wild state the forms of this species, as usually defined, are very 



Fig. 42. Viola tricolor, var. (J nat. size.) 



numerous. The commoner ones are arvensis and tricolor 

 proper ; the former with yellow or white petals scarcely ex- 

 ceeding the sepals, and the latter with larger purple and 

 yellow petals. Another form is lutea, by some botanists con- 

 sidered as specifically distinct. This has medium-sized flowers, 



