what zigzag, leafy, smooth, channelled on one side, rounded on the 
other, alternately. Leaves heart-shaped, more or less pointed, nearly 
smooth, crenate (scolloped). Stipulas rather deeply toothed, or 
fringed. Flower-stalks square, upright ; the earlier ones radical 
(growing from the root), the rest cauline (growing from the stem), 
axillary, solitary, bearing two narrow, entire, awl-shaped Bracteas 
in the upper part, and one nodding ; blue, (sometimes white,) scent- 
less f Flower, with purple lines in the mouth, and a greenish white, 
abrupt spur. Calyx-leaves strap-spear-shaped. Anthers slightly 
cohering, and tipped with an orange-coloured membrane. Capsule 
oblong, its valves compressed J. 
The Natural Order Viola 'ce^: consists of polypetalous (having 
more than one petal), dicotyledonous (having two seed-lobes) herbs 
or shrubs, with simple, usually alternate, rarely opposite leaves, each 
leaf furnished with a pair of permanent stipulas. The calyx is com- 
posed of 5 permanent sepals, with an imbricate aestivation, usually 
elongated at the base. The corolla, which is inferior, consists of 
5 equal or unequal petals, usually with an obliquely convolute aesti- 
vation, one of them generally spurred. The stamens are 5 in num- 
ber, either alternate with the petals, or, as is occasionally the case, 
opposite to them, inserted on an hypogynous (inferior) disk, often 
unequal ; anthers of 2 lobes, bursting inwards, either separate or 
cohering, and lying close upon the ovarium (germen) ; the filaments 
are dilated, and lengthened out beyond the anthers ; two of which, 
in the irregular flowers, are generally furnished with an appendage 
in the form of a recurved horn at their base, and is prolonged into 
the spur. The ovarium ( germen ) is 1-celled, and many-seeded, or 
rarely 1-seeded, with 3 parietal placenta (receptacle of the seeds J, 
which are opposite to the 3 outer sepals. The style is single, and 
usually decimate (bent), with an oblique hooked stigma. The fruit 
is a capsule of 3 valves, each valve bearing a placenta or trophosperm 
(receptacle of the seeds) on the middle of its inner surface. The 
seeds contain an upright embryo (corculum or little heart J in a 
fleshy albumen or endosperm , (a white, farinaceous fleshy sub- 
stance, destined to nourish the embryo of the seed). 
Vi'ola is the only British Genus in this order. 
t This deficiency in the Dog’s Violet is noticed by the Poet in the following 
lines — 
“ Deceitful plant! from thee no odours rise, 
Perfume the air, or scent the mossy glade, 
Altho’ thy blossoms wear the modest guise 
Of her§, the sweetest offspring of the shade. 
Yet not like her’s, still shunning to be seen. 
And by their fragrant breath, alone, betray’d, 
Veiled in the vesture of a scantier green, 
To every gazer are thy flowers displayed. 
Thus Virtue’s garb Hypocrisy may wear, 
Kneel as she kneels, or give as she has given ; 
But, ah ! no meek retiring worth is there. 
No incense of the heart exhales to heaven !” 
Chauncy Hare Townsend. 
•t Hoot emetic and cathartic. Wood ville. — § The sweet violet, Viola odorata. 
