68 
THE DAME’S VIOLET. 
HESPERIS MATRONALIS. 
“ Call it not wasted, the scent we lend 
To the breeze, when no step is nigh; 
O thus for ever the earth should send 
Her grateful breath on high.” 
“ This flower is rather large and handsome, pale, 
purple, or white, perpetually varying from seed in this 
respect. By day they have little or no smell, except in 
rainy weather; but in an evening they are highly and 
delightfully fragrant. Few British plants have been 
enveloped in more uncertainty than this, owing to the 
epithet inodora, which, as botanists generally hunt by 
daylight, was found inapplicable to our wild hesperis ; 
while the well-known rich nocturnal fragrance of the 
garden plant, dedicated in its name, for that very reason, 
to the evening star, was supposed to render the latter 
specifically distinct.” “ It is said that Hesperis matro- 
nalis, originally brought by European settlers to the 
United States of America, loses its scent the second 
season, and is obliged to be renewed by fresh seeds from 
Europe.” — Sir J. E. Smith. 
