ffelianthemum.] VIII. CISTACE^. 53 



fche 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. Fl. summer. 



IX. VIOLACEiE. 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 1-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 their insertion. 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 

 globe, 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 very 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. V. hirta. 

 Sepals acute. No creeping scions. Leaves pubescent . . . 4. V. arenaria. 

 Sepals acute. Annual flowering branches more or less elongated. 

 Stipules narrow, entire, ciliate or toothed. Stigma hooked and 



pointed 5. V. canina. 



Stipules deeply divided. Stigma thickened, with a tuft of hairs 



below it 6. V. tricolor. 



The V. calcarata from the Alps, the V. cornuta from the 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. 



