- 
Heluanthemum. | VIII. CISTACEZ. 53 
the leaves are narrow, much rolled back on the edges, and hoary on 
both sides, and the flowers are always white. 
On limestone, rocky wastes, common in south-western and some parts 
-of central Europe. In Britain only on Brean Downs in Somersetshire, 
and Babbicombe, near Torquay, in Devonshire. /l. swmmer. 
IX. VIOLACEA. THE VIOLET FAMILY. 
A family limited in Europe to the single genus Viola. The 
exotic genera associated with it agree with it in their 5 sepals 
and petals, their 5 anthers placed on the inner surface of the 
short broad filaments, their l-celled ovary with three parietal 
placentas, and their albuminous seeds with a straight embryo. 
They are chiefly tropical, and many are trees or shrubs, with 
small, almost regular flowers. 
I. VIOLA. VIOLET. 
Low annuals or perennials, with stipulate, radical or alternate leaves, 
and (in the British species) axillary or radical 1-flowered peduncles. 
Sepals 5, produced at the base beyond theirinsertion. Corolla irregular, 
of 5 spreading petals, the lowest produced into a spur at the base. 
Stamens 5, the filaments very short and broad, bearing the anthers on 
their inner surface, and more or less cohering in a ring round the ovary, 
the 2 lower ones lengthened into a short spur at the base.” Style single, 
with a dilated or thickened or hooked stigma. Ovary 1-celled, with 
several ovules, inserted on 3 parietal placentas. Fruit a capsule, opening 
in 3 valves, which become folded lengthwise so as to clasp tightly the 
shining seeds. 
A considerable genus, widely spread over the greater part of the 
olobe, and readily distinguished by the stamens and spurred flowers 
from all British Polypetals except Impatiens, which is at once known by 
the number and shape of the sepals and petals. In all the British species, 
except V. tricolor, the showy, perfect flowers seldom set their fruits. 
The capsules and seeds are generally produced by minute flowers, 
almost without petals or stamens, which appear later in the year. 
Sepals obtuse. Flowers and leaves apparently radical. Stem Pa short. 
Leaves glabrous, reniform. Flowers small, scentless . : 1. V. palustris. 
Leaves more or less downy or hairy. 
Flowers sweet-scented. Lateral scions creeping : . 2 V. odorata. 
Flowers scentless. No creeping scions. Leaves very hairy 3. VK. hertar 
Sepals acute. No creeping scions. Leaves pubescent 4, V. arenaria. 
Sepals acute. Annual flowering branches more or less elong ated. 
Stipules narrow, entire, ciliate or toothed. Stigma hooked and 
pointed . 5. V. cantina. 
Stipules deeply divided. Stigma thickened, with a tuft of hairs 
below it . 6. V. tricolor. 
The V. —- from che isd the ve cornuta ve és Pyrenees, and 
a few other exotic species, occur in our gardens, and from some of them, 
especially V. cornuta, many showy varieties have been produced. 
1. V. palustris, Linn. (fig. 121). Marsh V.—The stock occasionally 
emits runners or scions, like V. odorata, but it is a smaller plant, and 
perfectly glabrous, except very rarely a few hairs on the peduncles. 
