Viola.] vioLACE^. 51 



Order IX. VIOLACE^, DC. 



" Sepals 5, persistent. Petals 5, unequal, and the lower one spur- 

 red at the base, or sometimes equal. Stamens 5. Anthers gene- 

 rally with a dilated appendage at their extremity ; 2 of them (in 

 the genera with irregular flowers) usually appendiculate at the base. 

 Ovary 1 -celled, with 3 parietal placentas, bearing several seeds. 

 Style 1. Capsule 1 -celled, 3-valved, bearing the seeds along the 

 middle of each valve. Embryo straight, about as long as the 

 copious fleshy albumen. — Herbs or shrubs, with stipuled leaves." — 

 Br. Fl. 



I. Viola, Ldnn. Violet. 

 • " Violet, dim, 



But sweeter than the lids of Juno's eyes 

 Or Cytherea's breath." 



Winter's Tale. 



" Calyx of 5 sepals extended at the base. Petals 5, unequal, 

 the under one spurred at the base. Anthers connate, 3 of them 

 spurred behind." — Br. Fl. 



* Stemless or nearly so. 



1. V. hirta, L. Hairy Violet. Stemless, leaves oblongo-cor- 

 date acute and as well as their petioles mostly hairy, sepals 

 obtuse, flower-stalks with a pair of bracts at or below their mid- 

 dle, style dilated upwards, stigma deflexed, creeping scions none. 

 —Br. Fl. p. 46. E. B. xiii. t. 894. 



In woods, groves, pastures, and on hedgebanks, frequent. Ft. March — May. 

 Fr. June. 2j. 



JE. Med. — In Whitefield wood. Very abundant at the foot of Ashey down. 

 About Ryde, commonly. Plentiful at Steephill, in the plantations, &c. 



W. Med. — Abundant in the Tolt copse, by Satcombe. Most abundantly in 

 the valley between Apes down and Rowledge, on the Calamintba sylvatica station ; 

 and in Calbourne New Barn Hummit. Abundant in the little copse above 

 Alvington marl-pit. In and about Parkhurst forest, abundantly. Miss G. Kil- 

 derbee !!! 



Closely allied to V. odorata, and often mistaken for a scentless variety of that 

 general favourite, as it begins to flower nearly as soon, but lasts much longer in 

 blossom. 



Root whitish, knotty and somewhat woody, more or less divided and tufted with 

 pale, copiously branched, downy fibres, and emitting occasionally short scions 

 with tufts of leaves and flower-stalks at the end, but which do not take root in 

 their turn as in V. odorata. Stem none. Leaves in fascicles from the crown of 

 the root and its scions, or alternate along the latter, during the flowering of the 

 the plant small, about 1 — 2 inches in length, enlarged afterwards or in fruit to 3 

 or 4 inches, varying in form from roundish ovate or heart-shaped to ovate-oblong, 

 more or less acute but not acuminate, usually obtuse or even rounded at the apex, 

 deeply cordate, the lobes when young in flexed or hooded as in others of the 



