40 iV. VIOLAEIEAE. [Viola. 



Oedeb IV.— VIOLAEIEAE. 



Flowers regular or irregular, usually perfect. Sepals 5, imbricate. 



Petals 5, imbricate, the lower one often spurred or larger. Stamens 5, 



hypogynous ; the anthers erect and connivent round the pistil, sessile or on 



very short filaments, the connective often very broad. Anthers introrse. 



Ovary superior, 1-celled, with 2-5 parietal placentas. Fruit a capsule or berry. 



Seeds with fleshy endosperm ; embryo axile. Herbs, shrubs, or trees. Flowers 



axillary, solitary or in cymes or panicles. 



A large order, generally distributed in the tropical and temperate regions of both hemispheres. 

 Geneea, 21. Species, 250. 



Herbs with irregular flowers. Fruit a capsule. 



1. Viola. Lower petal spurred at the base. Anthers united. 



* loNiDiUM. Lower petal large, saccate or gibbous at the base. Anthers free. 



Shrubs or trees. Flowers regular.. Fruit a berry. 



2. Melicytus. Shrubs or trees. Anthers free. 



3. Hymenantheba. Shrubs. Anthers connate. Placentas 2. 



1. VIOLA, Linn. 



Sepals 5, produced into a short expansion at the base. Petals unequal, 

 spreading, lowest spurred at the base. Anthers 5, nearly sessile, the connective 

 produced into a thin flat membrane, the two lower often with a short dorsal 

 appendage or spur. Style thickened or dilated at the top or incurved with the 

 stigma in front. Capsule with 3 elastic valves, each with 1 parietal placenta. 

 Herbs with short woody rootstocks and erect or trailing stems. Leaves alter- 

 nate, stipulate. 



The genus comprises over 100 species, distributed through the temperate regions. All the New 

 Zealand species are endemic except V. Gunmnghaviii, which extends to Tasmania. 



Etym. The old Latin name. 



In many species the flowers are of two kinds— a large pedunculate form with conspicuous 

 petals, and later in the season inconspicuous cleistogamic flowers, which are apetalous, and produce 

 seeds freely, while the ordinary form is often sterile. 



Leaves cordate. 



Stems slender. Stipules and bracts lacerate . . . . . . . . 1. V. fiUcaulis. 



Stems slender. Leaves cordate. Stipules and bracts entire . . . . 2. F. Lyallii. 



Stems short. Leaves ovate. Stipules and bracts entire . . . . . . 3. y. Cunninghamii. 



. Leaves lyrate. 



Stems branched. Stipules pinnatifid . . . . . . . . . . * V. tricolor. 



1. V. fllicaulis, Hook, f., Fl. N.Z. i. 16. Glabrous. Stems slender, 

 filiform, prostrate. Leaves alternate, on slender petioles, orbicular-cordate or 

 ovate-cordate or almost reniform, usually rounded or obtuse, crenate. Stipules 

 laciniate, teeth often tipped with a gland. Peduncles solitary or geminate, 

 exceeding the leaves, slender, with two linear-toothed or lacerate bracts below 



the middle. Sepals linear-lanceolate. Spur short. Lower anthers spurred. 



Handbk. 16. 



