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bracteate a little way above the base; bractece opposite, subulate,
toothed, gibbous at the base. Calyx glabrous, green ;
leafits shortly auricled, (the two lowest every way the largest,)
broad and truncated at the base, tapering to a point at
the apex. Corolla large and very handsome; lowest petal
pale lilac, white in front near the claw, obcordate, pendulous,
shortly spurred ; the other petals erect or reflected,
elliptical, somewhat oblique, the two centre ones, and nearly
the upper half of the side ones, dark velvet-purple, behind
all the petals are pale lilac, nearly uniform. Stamens iree,
and anthers nearly without fallen in the specimen described,
the two lowest longer than the others, apices oblong, blunt,
concave on the inside, orange-yellow. Pistil equal in length
to the lowest stamens, every where glabrous; germen conical,
green; style clavate; stigma obliquely truncated, very shortly
rostrate.
This plant is extremely different in its appearance from
the specimen figured in Bot. Mag. t. 89, but I do not find any
characters by which it can be considered specifically distinct.
I t is probably the variety mentioned by Pursh as having a
handsome corolla, variegated with pale blue and dark purple-
velvet; but this is quoted by De Candolle, on the authority
of Rafinesque, as his which has a pubescent pistil, whereas
in this it is perfectly glabrous.—I have quoted Viola ranun-
culifoUa with a slight degree of doubt, merely because it is
described as glabrous, which this is not on the surface of the
leaves. The plant is extremely beautiful, and highly deserving
of cultivation in the open border. I t was introduced by
Mr. Drummond from Georgia into the Botanic Garden, Glasgow,
from whence it was sent to the Botanic Garden, Edinburgh,
in 1832, and there it first produced a succession of
flowers in the Greenhouse in the beginning of October, 1833.
Graham, MSS.
We are indebted to Dr. Graham for the above elaborate account
of this elegant violet, and to Mr. James M‘Nab, for
the very beautiful drawing whence our engraving was taken.
The V. digitata is wanting in Pursh’s Herbarium, but there
is no doubt that the present is the plant intended, and we entirely
agree with the views of our learned friend, in considering
it a mere variety of pedata, having the lobes of the leaves
more confluent than in the normal form of the species. It
appears to be also identical with V . flabellifolia of Loddiges
(Bot. Cab. t. 777.) D. Don.
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