«#4 THE VIOLET FAMILY. 
Leaves reniform or orbicular, and cordate at the base, very slightly 
crenate. Flowers smaller than in V. odorata, pale blue, with purple 
streaks, and scentless; the sepals obtuse, the spur very short. Stigma 
broad, oblique. 
In marshy grounds and bogs, over northern and central Europe, Asia, 
and North America. Abundant in Scotland, but decreasing south- 
wards, and local in southern England. Common in some parts of 
Ireland. Fl. spring and early summer ; the petalless flowers in summer. 
2. V. odorata, Linn. (fig. 122). Sweet V.—Perennial stock short, 
but sometimes branched, knotted with the remains of the old leaf-stalks 
and stipules, and usually emitting creeping runners or scions. Leaves 
in radical (or rather terminal) tufts, broadly cordate, rounded at the 
top, and crenate, downy or shortly hairy, with rather long stalks. 
Stipules narrow-lanceolate or linear, and entire. Peduncles about as © 
long as the leaf-stalks, with a pair of small bracts about half way up. 
Flowers nodding, of the bluish-purple colour named after them, or 
white, more or less scented. Sepals obtuse. Spur of the lower petal 
short. Stigma pointed, horizontal or turned downwards. 
On banks, under hedges, in woods, and on the borders of meadows, — 
widely spread over Europe and Asia, extending northward to temperate 
Sweden. Common in many parts of Britain, but absent over large 
districts, and only a doubtful native of Ireland. Fl. early spring, or 
some garden varieties in autumn ; the small petalless flowers that produce the 
seeds may be seen nearly all summer. Some botanists distinguish several 
species from minute differences in the shape and hairs of the petals. 
[V. permixta, Jord., is a form with scentless flowers, and scions that 
do not root. V. sepincola, Jord., is another scentless one with darker 
flowers, more hairy leaves, and rooting scions. Both of them are 
supposed hybrids with V. hirta.] 
3. V. hirta, Linn. (fig. 123). Hairy V.i—Very near V. odorata, and 
most probably a mere variety, seldom producing runners, more hairy in 
all its parts, with narrower and less obtuse leaves, and scentless flowers. 
Chiefly in limestone districts, in rocky places, open woods, and 
pastures, with a more extended area than V. odorata, penetrating 
further north in Scandinavia, and yet more common in southern Europe 
to the Caucasus. Appears more frequent in eastern Britain, and less so 
in the west than V. odorata ; very rare in Ireland. Fl. rather later than 
V. odorata. [V. calcarea, Bab., is a stunted form from very dry places 
in England. ] 
4. V. arenaria, Dec. (fig. 124). Sand V.—A small, tufted, pubescent 
or hoary stemless perennial. Leaves orbicular-ovate, obtuse, much 
rounder than in V. canina. Flowers pale blue, on short axillary 
branches from a compact rosette of leaves; stipules small, fimbriate. 
Sepals lanceolate, acute, bases square in fruit. Petals broad, spur 
short. Capsule oblong, pubescent. 
A native of sandy and stony places in Europe from Norway south- 
wards, and in North Asia. In Britain, found only in the mountains of 
Upper Teesdale, and there extremely rare. /l. summer. 
5. V. canina, Linn. (fig.125). Dog V.—Stock short, with the radical 
leaves tufted, and the flowering branches at first so short as to give 
the plant much resemblance to the sweet V. ; but as the season advances 
the lateral flowering branches are always more or less elongated, ascend- 
