HONESTY. 



Lirnctrhi hinnns. 



HIS old-fasluunrd flower eomes to 

 us with tjuite a new iiame^ that 

 lias, like the flowei-j a veiy old- 

 fasliioned appearance. It is not 

 known as " Honesty " in tlie old 

 herbals^ hut as the satin violet^ 

 which is l)y no means a. 1)ad name 

 for it. In Ijyte's " Dodoens " 

 (1573) common single pinks arc 

 called " small honesties ; " but we 

 have not found any merely nominal 

 "Honesty" in honest John Geranle 

 or John Parkinson. Tlic\' tell us 

 of Viola Iniutria, the Bohl)onac or 

 satin flower; and John Gerarde 

 figures it well, while the other John 

 figures it very jioorly. Gerarde 

 saith " the stalks are loden with many flowers like the 

 stocke gilliflower, of a purple colour^ which, being- fallen, 

 the seede conmietli foorth contcined in a flat thinnc 

 cod, with a sharp jioint or prieke at one end, in fasliion 

 of the moouc, and somewhat blackish. This cod is com- 

 posed of three filmes or srans, whereof the two out- 

 most are of an ouerwornc aslie colour, and the inner- 



