66 
PLANTS INDIGENOUS TO 
[ Violace «. 
Sepals subulate- or linear- or ovate-lanceolate, 1J-2J lines long*, showing barely a trace of a basal appendage, 
although the lower extremity is blunt and thickened. Petals 2-6 lines long, either of an equal blue, or blue 
and towards the margin whitish, beautifully dark-veined, rarely quite white; upper ones spathulate-obovate, 
glabrous j lateral ones oblique obovate- or oblong-cuneate, thinly white-bearded towards the margin of the 
upper side, occasionally almost smooth; lower one obovate, tapering into the slightly turgid base. Stamens 
ciliolate; their appendage lanceolate or somewhat deltoid, about J line long, orange, bleaching; their base 
beneath the anthers short, attenuated. Anther-cells white-yellow, about as long as the appendix. Style J-l 
line long, bent at the base, hardly increasing in thickness towards the apex. Lower tooth of the stigma 
extremely minute. Capsule 2-4 lines long, trigonous-ovate; valves cymbiform-ellipsoid. Seeds few or 
several, ovate, about. § line long, smooth. Stropliiole not manifestly developed. Embryo club-shaped, as long 
as the albuminous portion of the seed. Cotyledons but slightly broader than the cylindrical radicle, with which 
they are equal in length. 
In flower during the spring', on favorable places throughout the year. 
The New Zealand and Tasmanian Viola Cunningliami, which according to J. Hooker is at once 
distinguished from V. liederacea by the development of a corolla-spur, may perhaps j et be found in the 
Australian Alps. 
Viola liederacea may well be separated from its congeners as a subgenus, to which the name of Erpetion 
should be assigned, and which, by the spurless corolla, the absence of the dorsal appendages of the anthers 
and the obliteration of the stropliiole, is well characterized, although seemingly this subgenus would embrace 
but a solitary species. 
IONIDIUM. 
Venten. Malmais . t. 27. 
Sepals scarcely or not protracted i/nto a free base . Petals unequal ; the lower one much the 
largest; its unguis slightly concave or saccate at the base. Stamens touching each other at the 
margin. Filaments flat, continued beyond the anthers into a membranous apex ; the two anterior 
ones generally appendiculate. Style curved, clavate. Capsule 3-valved, few- or many-seeded. Seeds 
ovate or subglobose, stropliiolate. 
Herbs, less frequently shrubby plants, principally dispersed through tropical and subtropical 
regions. Stems leafy. Leaves alternate or opposite. Stipules small, sometimes almost obliterated. 
Flowers racemose, cymose or solitary. Pedicels frequently articulated and bibracteolate. Petals 
purple, blue, white or orange.— Endl. Gen . 909. 
It seems very doubtful whether the genus Ionidium can be retained as distinct from Viola. The 
above characters have been adopted from the works quoted under Viola. A careful investigation of 
all Ionidia, will, we may anticipate, lead to their reunion with the preceding genus. 
Ionidium filiforme. —Pigea filifomiis, Cand. Prodr . i. 307 ; Ionidium linaroides, Presl, Bot. 
Bemerli . 12 . 
Herbaceous, glabrous; stems simple or not much branched, slender ; lower leaves alternate, linear 
or some oblong; upper leaves opposite , linear ; all entire ; stipules minute, entire, deltoid- or ovate- or 
subulate-lanceolate; racemes long-stalked ; bracts opposite, minute ; pedicels ebracteolate, distant in age; 
sepals narrow-lanceolate, acuminate; paired petals acuminate , longer than the calyx; lateral ones dhnidiate- 
subcordate; upper ones lanceolate; all many times shorter than the blue ovate-orbicular unguiculate labellum; 
anthers terminated by two very minute linear-subulate lobes; stigma ovate, blunt; capsule few-seeded; 
seeds blackish, closely and very minutely dotted; stropliiole almost obliterated ; embryo nearly as long as 
the albumen; cotyledons ovate, as long as the radicle. 
