Helianthemum. | VIII. CISTACER. 53 
3 very prominent ribs, and often scarious between them; the 2 outer 
very small. Petals broad spreading, bright yellow, near 6 lines long and 
broad. Style bent upwards. 
In dry meadows and pastures, throughout Europe and western Asia, 
except the extreme north. Not uncommon in England and eastern Scot- 
land, but unknown in Ireland. Fi. all summer. A curious variety, or rather 
an accidental deformity, occasionally seen in gardens, and supposed to have 
been originally found near Croydon in Surrey, with small, narrow, deeply 
cut petals, has been figured under the name of H. surrejanum. The Kock- 
roses of our gardens are chiefly varieties of this species, which, under 
cultivation, varies much in the colour of its flowers. 
4, Hi. polifolium, Pers. (fig. 119). White Rockcist.—Very near H. 
vulgare, and by some considered as one of its numerous varieties, It is 
less straggling, 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 Breant Downs in Somersetshire, and 
Babbicombe, near Torquay, in Devonshire. Fl. summer. 
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 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 two 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, in- 
serted 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 bie) sy 
Leaves glabrous, reniform. Flowers small, scentless . . V. palustris, 
Leaves more or less downy or hairy. 
