SWEET VIOLET. 
What the origin of the word Viola is, cannot be pre¬ 
cisely determined. It has been fabled, however, that the 
Greek name of the plant, I ov (ion), is taken from the cir¬ 
cumstance, that, when the nymph Io was changed by Jupiter 
into a cow, this plant sprang from the earth to become her 
food. From the same fable the term Viola is supposed to 
have had its origin, viola being formed from vitula (which 
means a young cow) by dropping the t. 
The Viola Odorata, or Sweet Violet, is a native of every 
part of Europe, in woods, bushes, and hedges, flowering in 
March and April. The flower varies in colour, though 
most commonly a deep purple: it is sometimes of a pale 
purple, sometimes of a red purple, flesh-coloured, or quite 
white; but it is always delightfully fragrant. 
The growth of the Sweet Violet is not confined to 
Europe; it perfumes the paler groves of Barbary during 
winter, it flourishes in Palestine, and both Japan and China 
boast of this fragrant flower. Hasselquist tells us that it is 
one of the plants most esteemed in Syria, and particularly 
on account of its great use in sherbet, which is made with 
violet sugar. 
-Let the beauteous Violet 
Be planted, which, with purple and with gold 
Richly adorn’d,- 
And that which creeps pale-colour’d on the ground. 
COLUMELLA 
( 80 ) 
