PENTANDRIA. MONOGYNIA. Viola, 
331 
a dozen other pretty names. (Irish: Gorman Seareagh. Welsh: Fioled 
dauwynebog; Llys y Drindod ; Trilliw. Gaelic : Sail-chuach. E.) Corn¬ 
fields and ditch banks. A. May—Sept.* * 
V. lu'tea. Stem unbranched, upright, triangular: leaves fringed with 
hairs, lower ones heart-shaped, upper ones spear-shaped. 
(E. Bot. 721. E.)— Pet 37. 10— H. Ox. v. 7. 11. 
From two to eight inches high. Root creeping. Upper leaves spear-shaped. 
Stipuloe strap-shaped, entire, or rather divided down to the base, but in 
V. tricolor they are hand-shaped. Fruit-staUcs very long, axillary, up¬ 
right, one-flowered. Blossom pale but bright yellow. In V. tricolor the 
leaves are hairy at the edges as well as elsewhere, but not fringed with 
strong hairs standing out like an eye-lash, as in V. lutea. The stem of 
the former is almost always branched, but I have never seen the latter 
branched, not even in the most luxuriant specimens. 
(Var. 2. Two lower petals tipped with purple. Mr. Gough. 
Var. 3. Upper petals blue. E.) 
Yellow Mountain Violet or Yellow Pansy. (V. lutea. Huds. Ed. 
1. With. Sm. Hook. V. amcena of authors. V. grandiflora. Huds. Ed. 
2. Lightf. not of Linn. E.) Mountainous pastures, in the north, and in 
Wales in peaty soil. Ray. About Attamine Cliffs, near Settle. Curtis. 
Hills above Dovedale. Mr. Woodward. Chatsworth, Park, Derbyshire. 
tended to reverberate the rays of the sun on the parts of fecundation), are derived, and 
grateful for the vivifying influence, few plants pay more uniform homage to the fountain of 
light; following the course of the great luminary of nature from his uprising to his down 
setting ; yet not absolutely without here and there a stiff-necked exception. Thus does this 
humble weed hold out a silent rebuke to the moral agent, to the stubborn and perverse 
generation, who too often refuse the act of adoration to the Creator himself, even while He 
daily “ poureth His benefits upon them.” 
“ God wills that lifeless things should give 
Lessons to teach us how to live.” E.) 
* Dr. Strack says, that it infallibly cures the cutaneous complaints in young children, 
called Crusta lactea. He boils a handful of the fresh, or half a dram of the dried leaves, in 
half a pint of milk, and gives this milk morning and evening, for some weeks. Med. Journ. 
ii. p. 188 . (As an instance of the mechanical contrivance by which nature enables plants to 
diffusetheir seeds, Mr. J. Rennie well describes, (in Mag. Nat. Hist. v. i.) the process remark¬ 
able in the natural order comprising the various species of Violets. The seeds are attached 
to the inner part of the valvesof the capsule, and remain so for some time after the valves, in 
the course of ripening, have separated and stood open. The influence of the sun’s heat, 
however, causes the sides of each side to shrink and collapse, and in this state the edges 
press firmly upon the seed, which, from being before apparently irregular in its arrange¬ 
ment, comes into a straight line. The seeds are not only extremely smooth, polished, and 
shining, but regularly egg-shaped, so that when pressed upon by the collapsing edge of the 
valve, it slides gradually down the sloping part of the seed, and throws it with a jerk to a 
considerable distance. Another peculiarity in the Violaceiz to facilitate the same end is also 
worthy of notice. Before the seed is ripe, the capsule hangs in a drooping position, with 
the persistent calyx spread over it as an umbrella, to guard it from rain and dews, which 
would retard the ripening; but no sooner is this completed, than the capsule becomes 
upright, having the calyx for a support. The erect position appears to be intended by 
nature to give more effect to the valvular mechanism for scattering the seeds, as it thus 
gains a higher elevation, (in some cases more than an inch), from which to project them ; 
and this will give it, according to the laws of projectiles, a very considerable increase of 
horizontal extent, so that it is not unusual for the seeds to be scattered several feet from 
the parent stem. E.) 
