THE YOUNG 



NATURALIST. 



123 



(cyanic), these well-marked types may 

 pass through all the varying shades of 

 red, orange, pink, white &c. A 

 familiar illustration is the rose of 

 xanthic type, which with all its 

 charming changeability of colour, 

 has never yet so far as I am aware 

 produced a coerulean blue specimen, 

 the same with the dahlia. The cyanic, 

 or true blue type is perhaps less liable 

 to change ; but white, pink, red, and 

 orange variations occur — the little wild 

 milkwort (Folygala vulgaris) freely 

 displays these gradations, for the blue, 

 pink, and white varieties are equally 

 common-geraniums, campanulas, hya- 

 cinths, illustrate this type. The pansy 

 is the only violet that grows in 

 cultivated fields, it seems unable to 

 hold its own against freer growing 

 plants when the soil is left undisturbed 

 for any lengthened period, but in dry 

 stony, sunny fields it flourishes luxuri- 

 antly, and a charming sight it is on a 

 bright summer's day, to see a shingly 

 brae covered with their brilliant 

 blossoms, like cheerful laughing faces 

 all turned unanimously sunward, 

 as if rendering homage and adoration 

 to the effulgent God of day ; for the 

 pansy is as devoted a sun worshipper 

 as the famous sunflower itself, and 

 with equal assiduity follows with the 

 full front of its flowers, the revolving 

 source of light and heat with stedfast 

 devotion. This plant is the origin of 

 all the cultivated varieties of the 



garden pansy, those magnificient 

 blossoms which show what floricultural 

 skill can accomplish. To a botanist 

 it is exceedingly interesting to notice 

 in a neglected garden how rapidly they 

 revert back to the character of the 

 original stock. And in the same way 

 to notice how out of a packet of seeds 

 saved from the finest varieties how few 

 will equal the parent plant, although 

 patient careful skill will do a deal to 

 perpetuate desirable characteristics. A 

 well marked variety or sub-species 

 (V. arvensis) is common in corn and 

 turnip fields, in which the corolla is 

 white or cream coloured, and never 

 exceeds the large green sepals. Closely, 

 allied to the pansy is the yellow 

 mountain violet [V. lutea)^ this has 

 the largest flowers of any native violet, 

 usually the blossoms are entirely yellow, 

 but often the two upper petals are a 

 beautiful purple. It is essentially a 

 montane plant, loving to grow on the 

 dry grassy upland moors. It is very 

 difiicult to dig up by the roots, as the 

 slender thread-like stems creep for a 

 long way amongst the surrounding 

 grass, and can scarcely be extracted 

 entire. Except for a botanic specimen, 

 it is hardly worth one's while, for 

 however lovely a gem it may be, stud- 

 ding its native mountain slope, it is so 

 fond of the pure alpine air, that it 

 languishes at once in the smoky 

 atmosphere of cities, and persistently 

 refuses to submit to cultivation. A 



