VrOLA PALMAEN'SIS. 
TREE VIOLET. 
Order. 
MONOGYNIA. 
Natural Order. 
VIOLACEjE. 
Native of 
Heio-ht. 
Flowers in 
Duration. 
Introduced 
S. Europe, 
feet. 
May. 
Perennial. 
in 1836? 
No. 663. 
The Latin word Viola was founded on the Greek 
ION, the name applied by the Greeks to a Violet, 
probably our Viola odorata. Etymologists have 
tried to discover why the term was first adopted as 
a name for the plant, but the ancient Eastern poets 
have so wrapped their connexion in fable as to defy 
a discovery of the truth. 
The classical reader can easily refer to such fables, 
we, however, give the following as a specimen, re- 
ported in the words of Gerard, “ The Grecians did 
call it ION, because certaine nymphs of Ionia gave 
that floure to lupiter. Others say it was called ion, 
because when lupiter had turned the young damo- 
sell lo, whom he tenderly loued, into a cow, the 
earth brought forth this floure for her food.” 
The Violet, it would seem, has been as much 
esteemed in the East as with us; indeed the inhabi- 
tants of Persia and T urkey are said to make use of 
it in their sherbet, in preference to fruit or other 
flowers. John Baptist Tavernier, in his travels, 
states that the sherbet drunk by the Grand Signor 
himself is made of violets and sugar. 
This odorous flower may vie with the Rose itself 
Class 
PENTANDRIA. 
