VIOLACEÆX. 345 
ing into the interior of the spur of the anterior petal.! The gynæceum 
is free and superior; it is composed of a unilocular ovary, sur- 
mounted by a style, the apex of which is dilated into a kind of sac 
or pocket, varying in form according to the species. On the an- 
terior side of this dilatation is found an opening, more or less small, 
conducting into a cavity lined with stigmatic tissue. The ovary 
Viola tricolor. 

Fie. 369. 
Long. sect. of seed. 
Fie, 367. 
Dehiscent fruit. 
Fra. 368. 
Seed (5). 
contains three parietal and multiovulate placentas, two being ante- 
rior, and the third posterior. ‘The anatropous ovules’ are arranged 
in several ranks, their micropyle being directed towards the pla- 
centa. 
The capsular fruit, generally accompanicd at its base by the 
dried calyx, opens elastically at maturity into three panels, bearing 
upon the middle of their internal face an indefinite number of 
seeds.* These are provided with a small arillate dilatation, springing 
principally from the hilum,’ and enclose under their coats’ a fleshy 
albumen, the axis of which is occupied by an elongated straight 
1 So that this receives the nectar secreted in 
small quantities by the glandular parts of the 
spurs of the two stamens alternate with the 
anterior petal. 
? They have two coats. 
3 In several species there are only fertile 
fruits in certain flowers produced in summer and 
autumn, but little visible, apetalous or erypto- 
petalous ; while the spring flowers, with well 
developed brilliant flowers, are generally sterile. 
4 The aril of V. tricolor commences by a 
slight subcircular thickening of the circum- 
ference of the hilum, and it is the same in the 
other species. The circular cushion, formed of 
fleshy, turgid, whitish cells, thus produced, after- 
wards extends much on the side of the raphe, and 
touches this for a variable length according to the 
species, At this side it often tapers to a point. 
In the Viola odorata this thickening is after- 
wards elongated into a cone, with soft lengthened 
cells on the side of the placenta and of the 
funicle, which is as though enclosed in it. In 
several species the cellular hypertrophy reaches 
the micropyle, which is effaced, and as though 
lost in the edge of the aril covering it. The 
arillate cells are very elastic, which assists 
with the elasticity of the fruit-valve in project- 
ing the ripe seeds, 
5 There are four; that is to say, the middle 
coat testaceous and crustaceous, and the other 
two thin, soft, and white. The arillate thicken- 
ing is produced at the expense of a part of the 
cells of the outer coat. 
