G3 
Order XLIII. VIOLACEiE. The Violet Tribe. 
ViOLARiE^, DC. FI. Fr. 4. 801. (1805) ; Juss. Ann. Mus. 18. 476. (1811) ; DC. Prodr. 
1. 287. fl824) ; Bartl. Ord. Nat. 283. (1830). — VioLACEiE, Lindl. Synops. 35. 
0829). 
Essential Character. — Sepals 5, persistent, with an imbricate aestivation, usually 
elongated atthe base. Petals 5, hypogynous, equal or unequal, usually withering, and with 
an obliquely convolute aestivation. Stamens 5, alternate with the petals, occasionally oppo- 
site them, inserted on a hypogynous disk, often unequal ; anthers bilocular, bursting 
inwards, either separate or cohering, and lying close upon the ovary ; filaments dilated, 
elongated beyond the anthers ; two, in the irregular flowers, generally furnished with an 
appendage or gland at their base. Ovary 1 -celled, many-seeded, or rarely 1 -seeded, with 
3 parietal placentae opposite the 3 outer sepals ; style single, usually declinate, with an 
oblique hooded stigma. Capsule of 3 valves, bearing the placentae in their axis. Seeds 
often with a tumour at their base ; embryo straight, erect, in the axis of fleshy albumen . — 
Herbaceous plants or shrubs. Leaves simple, usually alternate, sometimes opposite, stipu- 
late entire, with an involute vernation. Infiorescence various. 
Anomalies. — The berry of Pentaloba is 5-lobed. 
Affinities. Brown, in speaking of Violacese, mentions, in his Appendix 
to the Congo Voyage, a genus, at that time unpublished, called Hymenanthera, 
having 5 scales alternating with the petals, with a bilocular berry, in each cell 
of which is a single pendulous seed. It appears very paradoxical to associate 
such a plant with an order otherwise well defined ; and Brown himself seems 
to think it should be placed between Violaceae and Polygalaceae. Tlie structure 
of this genus seems to point out the relation of those two orders, to the latter 
of which, however, it rather appears to me to be referable. These orders differ 
from each other, in the latter having a 2-celled not 1 -celled ovary, leaves with- 
out stipules, and 1 -celled anthers. Droseraceae are known from Violaceae by 
their numerous styles, minute embryo, circinate leaves, and want of stipules. 
Passifioraceae, to which the baccate genera of Violaceae, and especially Cory- 
nostylis (Calyptrion, DC.), which has a twining stem, undoubtedly approach, 
are distinguished by a multitude of characters. The irregular flowers, dilated 
filaments and sepals, and stipulate leaves, of Violaceae, usually indicate them at 
once ; but the regular-flowered fruticose genera, which constitute the tribe of 
Alsodineae, are not to be recognised by a combination of such characters. 
Geography. Of the tribes, Violeae chiefly consist of European, Siberian, 
and American plants ; a few only being found within the tropics of Asia. 
They are abundant in South America, the forms of which are, however, 
materially different from those of the more temperate parts of the world, most 
of them being shrubs, while the northern Violets are uniformly herbaceous, or 
nearly so. Alsodineae are exclusively South American and African, with the 
exception of Pentaloba, which belongs to the Malayan Flora. 
Properties. The roots of all Violaceae appear to be more or less emetic, 
a property which is strongly possessed by the South American species, and in 
a less degree only by those of Europe. Hence they form part of the herbs 
known under the name of Ipecacuanha. lonidium parviflorum is used by the 
Spanish Americans, and I. Poaya by the Brazilians, as a substitute for 
Ipecacuanha. PI. Us. 9. and 20. The root of another species, called Poaya, 
Poaya da praia, and Poaya branca, the lonidium Itubu of Kunth, is commonly 
sold as true Ipecacuanha, to which it approaches very nearly in its properties. 
At Pernambuco it is esteemed the very best remedy that can be employed in 
dysentery ; and the inhabitants of Rio- Grande- do-Norte consider it a specific 
against gout. Ibid. no. 1 1 . The foliage of the Conohoria Lobolobo is used 
in Brazil for the same purposes as Spinach with us. Boiled, it becomes 
mucilaginous. Ibid. 10. Viola canina is reputed a powerful agent for the 
