VI'OLA BIFLO'RA. 
TWO-FLOWERED VIOLET. 
Class. Order. 
PENTANDRIA; JIONOGVNIA. 
Natural Order. 
VJOLACEvE. 
Native of Height. Flowers in Duration. Introduced 
Europe. 1 inches. April, May. Perennial, in 1752. 
No. 1090. 
Viola, a word derived from the Latin, but founded 
on the Greek, is enveloped in much uncertainty, 
as respects its origin. The ancient fabulists, have 
mingled together, too ingeniously, the subjects con- 
nected with it, to admit of analysis by moderns. 
So much interest has, of late years, been taken 
in the cultivation of Pansies, and in propagating 
new varieties, from seed, that the possession of a 
kindred plant may be thought desirable by many 
of their admirers. Cultivated as an Alpine, the 
Viola biflora is a pretty plant ; or it may be kept 
in a dry, shady, border ; but we have introduced it 
to notice more particularly from its relation to the 
Pansy, in the hope that it may prove useful in the 
production of new characters by hybridisation with 
that species. Its size would not constitute an ob- 
jection to this ; its upright habit of growth would 
be advantageous ; and its colour, and red central 
markings, may be productive of changes in the 
offspring, of which experience alone can give us 
information. It should be remembered, that the 
plant yielding the seed, usually guides the size of 
hybrid offspring. 
