JLHE VIOLET is the official national 
flower of Greece and the adopted state flower of 
Rhode Island, New Jersey, Wisconsin, and 
Illinois. Of the many-species that are native of 
Europe, Asia, and America the common blue 
violet is a universal favorite. Among the dif¬ 
ferent legends that tell of the origin of the 
violet there is a Greek legend that relates how 
Jupiter changed Io, one of the priestesses in 
Juno’s temple, into a white heifer and, believing 
that grass was not suitable for so dainty and 
lovely a creature, caused the violet to spring up 
all around her so that she might have special 
food to eat. The Greeks named the violet ion; 
and the land that abounded in violets was 
called Ionia. From then on, the nymphs of Ionia 
dedicated the violet to Jupiter and the city of 
Athens adopted the violet as its emblem. Al¬ 
though Jupiter created the violet for Io, it was 
also consecrated to Venus because of the belief 
that Venus made the violet blue. To substan¬ 
tiate this belief there is a legend that relates 
how Venus, ancient goddess of bloom and 
beauty, had a controversy with her son Cupid 
as to who was more beautiful, herself or a 
certain group of girls. When Cupid, an unruly 
rogue with no fear whatsoever of his mother, 
insisted that the group of girls was more beauti¬ 
ful, Venus became so enraged that she beat her 
rivals till they turned blue and wasted away 
into violets. Even in modern history the violet 
had a special significance; it was Napoleon 
Bonaparte’s favorite flower and because of this, 
he was generally known as Corporal Violet. 
When exiled to Elba, Napoleon promised that 
he would return to France when the violets 
bloomed. He did return, and when he again 
entered the Tuileries there was a gorgeous dis¬ 
play of violets to greet him. During Napoleon’s 
exile the violet was the sign of recognition 
among his followers; and during his reign it was 
so widely worn that it became known 
as Napoleon’s emblem. 
