and their allies, but are distinguished by 

 their stamens being almost always Ave in 

 number, with very short filaments and com- 

 paratively large anthers, erect and often 

 connate in a ring round the pistil— their 

 connective often very broad, and produced 

 into an appendage at the top, with the 

 cells opening inside the ring. The flowers, 

 when irregular, are often large and showy, 

 and the capsule in the greater number of 

 genera opens in three very elastic valves. 

 There are between two and three hundred 

 species known, dispersed over nearly all 

 parts of the globe, and distributed into 

 twenty-one genera forming four tribes :— 

 1. Violece, with irregular flowers, the lower 

 petal often spurred, containing seven 

 genera, of which Viola in temperate cli- 

 mates, and Ionidiumwithin the tropics are 

 the most important ; 2. Paypa.yrolece, three 

 small tropical genera, with slightly irregu- 

 lar long-clawed petals; 3. Alsodeiece, shrub- 

 by and chiefly tropical, with small nearly 

 regular flowers, comprising Alsodeia and 

 six other small genera ; and 4. Sanvagesiece, 

 remarkable for the variously-formed stami- 

 nodia which surround their perfect sta- 

 mens ; the capsule also differs from that 

 of other tribes in opening along the pla- 

 centas and not between them, and the 

 tribe is often raised to the rank of a dis- 

 tinct order. It contains Sauvagesia and 

 three other small genera, all tropical : see 

 Sauvagesiace^e. 



VIOLA. A genus of very varied and in- 

 teresting plants, giving name to the order 

 Violacece. They have a calyx of five leaves, 

 which from their extension at the base are 

 apparently joined by their sides ; and the 

 corolla is of five unequal petals, the lower 

 of which is spurred. To the botanist this is 

 a somewhat perplexing family, as scarcely 

 two agree as to their specific differences, 

 and yet the general observer is so well 

 acquainted with their nature and habits 

 that the Violet scarcely needs a detailed 

 description. Our native species may be 

 referred to two groups— the stemless Vio- 

 lets, with solitary flowers, growing appa- 

 rently from the crown of the plant, and 

 including V. odorata the Sweet Violet, and 

 its varieties; and those with the stems evi- 

 dent, and solitary flowers springing from 

 the axils of the leaves, which are alternate, 

 on more or less branched stems— the latter 

 group including V. canina the Dog Violet, 

 and V. tricolor the Pansy, 



The scented Violets are very variable in 

 colour, the flowers being sometimes blue- 

 Violets blue as Juno's eyes 

 And sweet as Cytlierea's breath, 



asShakspere hath it ; while sometimes they 

 are white or lilac, and double varieties of 

 them are cultivated. We can, however, 

 make out no valid characters by which to 

 distinguish them, and our experiments in 

 their cultivation lead us to the conclusion 

 that it is easy to produce all three from the 

 seed of either the White or Blue Violet. 

 The hairy scentless V. hirta, we are also 

 inclined, after long examination study and 



experiment, to think is a mere inodorous 

 variety. It is remarkable that the Sweet 

 Blue Violet, which is mostly held in such 

 reverence as the type of all that is loving j 

 and lovely, should yet in some districts be j 

 denied admission to the cottage. We | 

 have frequently been told, in parts of ' 

 Gloucestershire, that the Blue Violet was | 

 ' unlucky to have in the house;' and upon ; 

 pressing for a reason, we were once inform- ! 

 ed that these flowers 'certainly brought in 

 fleas.' Probably the warmer weather of ; 

 spring, which ushers in the Violet— said to I 

 be 'a stinking flower' by the foxhunter | 

 —is just that which causes the troublesome I 

 little insects in question to be hatched. 



Dog Violets are perhaps so called from ' 

 their want of scent, on the same principle 

 that the large mushroom, which is so de- i 

 tested by those who have never eaten it, j 

 is dedicated to the horse, and called the ! 

 horse-mushroom. [J. B.] j 



The endless varieties of Heartsease, or i 

 Pansy, are all derived from the cornfield ; 

 weed V. tricolor, and the allied species V. ! 

 altaica from Tartary, and V. grwndiflora j 

 from Switzerland. The Neapolitan Violet is ; 

 stated by Loudon to be a variety of V. odo- 

 rata, and the ' Tree Violets' of the conser- 

 vatory are merely double varieties of the 

 same species, which have been subjected to 

 particular treatment. V odorata is known 

 under some form or other throughout 

 Europe, and in many parts of Asia; but 

 the Viola of classic authors is supposed to 

 have been the Stock Gilliflower of modern 

 gardens. French : Violette ; German : Miirg- 

 veilchen. [C. A. J.] 



VIOLET. Viola. — ,CORN. Speadaria 

 hybrida. — , DAME'S, or DAMASK. Hes- 

 peris matronalis. — , DOG. Violacanina. —, 

 DOG'S-TOOTH. Erythronium. —, FRING- 

 ED, of New Holland. Tln/sanotus. —, 

 GREEN. Solea. — , MERCURY'S. Campa- 

 nula iirticcefolia. — , NEAPOLITAN. A 

 double-flowered variety of Viola odorata. 

 — , ROCK. Chroolepus Jolithus. —, SPUR- 

 LESS. Erpetion. —, SWEET. Viola odo- 

 rata. —, TOOTH. Dentaria bulbifera. — , 

 TREE. A variety of Viola odorata. — , 

 WATER. Hottonia palustris. 



VIOLETTE. (Fr.) Viola. —A ODEUR 

 D'AIL. Erysimum Alliaria. — AQUA- 

 TIQUE. Hottonia palustris. — BLEUE. 

 Browa.llia elata. — DE MARIE. Campa- 

 nula Medium. — DE MARS. Viola odo- 

 rata. — DES SORCIERS. Vinca minor. 



VIOLET-WOOD. Kingwood, supposed 

 to be derived from a species of Triptolomcea. 

 Also applied to the wood of Acacia pen- 

 dula, and to a wood of Guiana, the pro- 

 duce of Andira violacea. 



VIOLETWORTS. A name for the order 

 Violacea. 



VIOLIER. (Fr.) Cheiranthus incanus. 

 — D'ETE. Cheiranthus annuus. — D'HI- 

 VER. Galanthus nivalis. — DES DAMES. 

 Hesperis matronalis. — JAUNE. Cheiran- 

 thus Cheiri. 



VIORNE. (Fr.) Viburnum. —A MAN- 



