52 viOLACE/E. [Viola. 



geuus, more or less pubescent on both sides with short, erect, simple hairs, usu- 

 ally most so underneath, often nearly glabrous and somewhat shining, exhibiting 

 bolh states even on the same plant, broadly and very obtusely crenate, the serra- 

 tures naked or ciliated. Petioles varying in dimension according to age and posi- 

 tion, from an inch or two in the earlier to a span long in the full-grown state, 

 semiterele or subtriquetrous, broadly but not deeply grooved above, more or less 

 pubescent and even hirsute, often glabrous or nearly so as the leaf it belongs to 

 is hairy or smooth, and this on one and the same specimen. Stipules in pairs at 

 the very base of the petiole, lanceolate, very acute and acuminate, submembrana- 

 ceous, uncoloured, the points greenish, ciliato-dentate, the teeth gland-tipped. 

 Scapes single-flowered, numerous, springing from amongst the leaves of the root 

 or scions, various in length, as long as or longer than the leaves, or sometimes 

 shorter, erect, lax or reclining in fruit, slender, quadrangular, grooved and twisted, 

 glabrous or clothed with scattered, deflexed, rigid hairs, chiefly confined to that 

 part beneath the bracts, which are usually situated below but often about 

 the middle of the scape or even higher, and are lanceolate, opposite, alternate or 

 a little remote, erect or appressed, clasping and somewhat lobed, at base toothed 

 and serrate, acute and entire at their upper part, not coloured. Flowers greatly 

 like those of V. odorata in size, colour and structure, but usually ])aler and quite 

 scentless, the latter ones of the season ofleii apetalous but fertile. Sepals much 

 smaller than the petals, ovate or elliptic-oblong, very obtuse and rounded at both 

 ends, faintly 3 — 5 nerved, more or less ciliated and pubescent, quite plane ; the 2 

 interior smaller and narrower, with somewhat more distinctly membranous mar- 

 gins than the 3 outer, all spreading or recurved at the tips. Petals as in V. odo- 

 rata, but paler, with white claws, which in the lowermost petal is marked with a 

 few dark purple lines, less apparent on the 2 lateral petals and wanting on the 

 upper pair. The lateral petals bear a tuft (not a line) of pellucid somewhat cla- 

 vate hairs above the median line towards the claw, all either quite entire or more 

 or less emarginate ; spur of the lowermost petal mottled purplish red, short, 

 thick and very obtuse, sometimes a little attenuated with a small but distinct 

 incurved process at the end. Stamens with orange-coloured, apiculate, scariose 

 appendages. Ovary conical, subglobose, ribbed, very downy. Style glabrous, 

 stouter than in V. odorata, appearing as if suddenly pinched or constricted behind 

 at the top of its short somewhat porrected base, then erect, compressed and much 

 dilated upwards, the apex rounded and sloping anteriorly into a short, triangular, 

 bluntish and slightly deflexed point or stigma.* Capsules drooping or reclining 

 on the ground, about the size of peas, globose, very obtusely and obsoletely 

 6-lobed, hoary with short erect pubescence, often purplish, not tipped with the 

 style when ripe, though the latter adheres for some time to the immature capsule. 

 Seeds large, exactly ovoid, brownish yellow, highly polished, attached by an 

 oblique, white, furrowed and fleshy crest or caruncle, of nearly their own size. 



2. V. odorata, L. Common, Sweet or March Violet. Stemless, 

 leaves roundish heart-shaped bltmtish and well as their petioles 

 nearly glabrous, sepals obtuse, flower-stalks with a pair of bracts 

 above the middle, styles scarcely enlarged upwards, stigma nearly 

 straight, scions creeping. Sm. E. Fl. i. p. 303. Br. Fl. p. 46. 

 Lind. Syn. p. 35. E. B. ix. t. 619. Curt. Fl. Land. fasc. i. t. 63. 



Var. a. Flowers violet. 



Var. /3. Flowers white, fragrant ; lateral petals with or without a hairy line. 

 V. Martia alba, May, Syn. ed. 3tia, p. 364. Leighton, Shrops. Fl. p. 116, var. (j. 

 alba, and var. y. imberbis. 



In similar places with the foregoing, and nearly as common. Fl. March, 

 April. 71. 



* The style, as it appears attached to the downy germen, strongly reminds oue 

 of the head and neck of an ostrich. 



