VIOLACE/E. 189 



Plate 82. 

 IONIDIUM, Vent. 



Sepala pi. m. inaequalia, basi exappendiculata. Petala 

 valde inaequalia ; postica 2 breviora ; anticum maximum, 

 unguiculatum, ungue dilatato breviter gibboso vel concavo. 

 Stamina conniventia, anticis singulis dorso glandula instruc- 

 tis. — Herbas vel smTrutices, foliis alternis aut oppositis, pe- 

 dunculis axillaribus solitariis. 



Ionididm, Venten. Hort. Malm. t. 27. DC. Prodr. 1. p. 306. H. B. K. 



Nov. Gen. 5. p. 373. t. 495-500. St. Hil. Fl. Bras. 2. p. 141. 



Torr. & Gray, Fl. N. Am. 1. p. 144. Wight, III. Ind. But. t. 19. 



Endl. Gen. 5041 (ex parte). 

 Solea, Spreng. Pugill. p. 23, & Syst. Veg. 1. p. 803. 



Calyx imbricated in asstivation, persistent ; the sepals 

 more or less unequal, herbaceous and usually with mem- 

 branaceous margins, not produced at the base, nearly dis- 

 tinct. Petals very unequal : the two posterior shorter than 

 the lateral ones ; the anterior, longest and largest, labelliform, 

 contracted below the roundish lamina into a claw, which is 

 dilated at the base and barely concave or gibbous ; in aesti- 

 vation imbricated as in Viola, marcescent. Stamens as in 

 Viola (connivent, but not connate?), except that the two 

 anterior each bear a gland at the base, instead of a spur. 

 Ovary globular, one-celled, with three parietal placentas : 

 style clavate, the stigmatic apex recurved. Ovules several 

 on each placenta in two series, horizontal, anatropous. 



Capsule chartaceous or coriaceous, pointed with the per- 

 sistent style, one-celled, three-valved, the valves bearing 

 the nerviform few - several-seeded placenta? on the middle. 

 Seeds and Embryo as in Viola. 



Herbs or suffruticose plants (rarely shrubs), with branch- 

 ing stems, bearing linear or oblong and alternate or opposite 

 often sessile leaves, and axillarv and solitarv nodding flow- 



