108 THE TIOLET FAMILX. 



near a foot long. Leaves shortly stalked, mostly oblong, but varying from 

 ovate to lanceolate, scarcely curved down on the edges, glabrous or shghtly 

 hauT, green above, and more or less hoary or wliite underneath. Stipules 

 Hnear-lauceolate, 1 to 2, or even 3 hues long. Racemes loose, the pedicels 

 deflected before and after flowering. The 3 larger sepals marked with 3 

 very prominent ribs, and often scarious between them ; the 2 outer very 

 small. Petals broadly spreading, bright yellow, near 6 Hues long and 

 broad. 



In dry meadows and pastm-es, throughout Europe and western Asia, 

 except the extreme north. Not uncommon in England, Ireland, and south- 

 ern Scotland. Fl. all summer. A curious variety, or rather an accidental 

 deformity, occasionally seen in gardens, and supposed to have been origi- 

 nally found near Croydon in Surrey, with smaU, narrow, deeply-cut petals, 

 has been figured mider the -aaixae oi H. surrejanum (Eng. Bot. t. 2207). 

 The Rock-roses of our gardens are cliiefly varieties of this species, which, 

 imder cultivation, varies much in the colour of its flowers. 



4. Vniite Rockcist. Helianthemum polifolium, Pers. 

 {Cistus, Eng. Bot. t. 1322.) 

 Very near the common R., and by some considered as one of its numerous 

 varieties. It is less straggling, the leaves are narrow, much rolled back on 

 the edges, and hoary on both sides, and the flowere are always white. 



On limestone, rocky wastes, common in south-western and some parts of 

 central Em-ope. In Britain only on Brent Do\vns in Somersetshire, and at 

 Torquay and Babbicombe in Devonshire. Fl. summer. 



IX. THE VIOLET FAMILY. VIOLACE^. 



A family limited in Europe to the single genus Violet. The 

 exotic genera associated with it agree with it in their 5 sepals 

 and petals, their 5 anthers placed on the inner surface of the 

 short, broad filaments, and their 1-ceIled ovarj with three 

 parietal placentas. Thej are chiefly tropical, and many are 

 trees or shrubs, with small, almost regular flowers. 



I. VIOLET. YIOLA. 



Low annuals or perennials, with stipulate, radical, or alternate leaves, 

 and (in the British species) axdlary or radical 1-flowered peduncles. Se- 

 pals 5, produced at the base beyond their insertion. Corolla irregular, of 

 5 spreading petals, the lowest produced into a spur at the base. Stamens 

 5, the filaments very short and broad, . bearing tlie anthei-s on their inner 

 sm-face, and more or less cohering in a ring round the ovary, the two lower 

 ones lengthened into a short spur at the base. Style single, with a dilated 

 or tliickened or hooked stigma. Ovary 1-celled, with several ovules in- 

 serted on 3 parietal placentas. Fruit a capsule, opening in 3 valves, which 

 become folded lengthwise so as to clasp tightly the shining seeds. 



A considerable genus, widely spread over the gi'eater part of the globe, 

 and readily distinguished by the stamens and spurred flowers from aU 

 British Polypetals except Balsam, which is at once known by the number 



I 



