THE ARROW-LEAVED VIOLET. 



the great Linnaeus also adopted for it in his system, Viola, is 

 from the same root as via, a path or road, and refers to the fact 

 that this little " blue beauty " was always found the traveller's 

 constant companion beside every way or path which he might 

 take, through field or forest. 



There are three species of blue violets common all over the 

 country, viz., the one given in our plate, Viola sagitata, and the 

 " Common blue Violet," V. cuculata, and the " Bird's-foot Violet," 

 V. pedata. These species are more easily distinguished from 

 each other by their leaves than by anything else. In the first 

 the leaf is not always shaped like an arrow-head, as its name 

 would imply, but more often like the bowl of a teaspoon, while the 

 petiole, or handle of the spoon, which is short, is apt to be 

 somewhat widened by the extension of the narrow margin of the 

 leaf down its sides. 



The leaves of the second are much larger, and heart-shaped at 

 the bottom, with the lobes frequently rolled in. The leaf of the 

 last is deeply divided, quite down to the petiole, the parts of 

 the leaf radiating from its extremity as the toes of a bird's foot 

 radiate from the extremity of the leg. 



The blossoms of the " Arrow-leaved Violet " are, perhaps, the 

 deepest and richest blue, while those of the " Bird's-foot Violet " 

 are most likely to be variegated in color. They often show, 

 indeed, a near approach to those of the pansy, in the striking 

 contrasts of shade in the same flower, and in the velvety texture 

 of some of the petals. 



Though the Violet produces such an abundance of perfect 

 flowers, that is, flowers with fully developed stamens and pistils, 

 yet it has been found that scarcely any of them are ever fertile, 



