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V I O L A paluftris.
Marjh Violet.
P E N T s l N D R I A Monogynia.
G en . C har. Cal. 5 -leaved. Petals 5 , irregular, the
lowermoft fpurred behind. Capfule fuperior, of
one cell, with 3 valves.
S pec. C har. Stem none. Leaves kidney-fhaped.
Syn . Viola paluftris. Linn. Sp. PL 132,4. Hudf. 370.
IVilh. 261. Lightf. 506. Curt. Lond. fa fc. 3. t. 58.
V. paluftris rotundifolia glabra. Rail Syn. 364.
O n the moift parts of fandy or turfy heaths, more frequent
in Scotland, and the north of England, than in the fouth ; yet
it is found plentifully (according to Mr. Curtis) near Croydon,
and our fpecimen was gathered in Norfolk by Mr. Dawfon
Turner. This violet is not mentioned in the Floras of Relit
an or Sibthorp, though Ray fays it grows near Oxford.
Root perennial, creeping, fomewhat flelhy, with many fibres.
Stem none. Leaves on fmooth femi-cylindrical foot-ftalks,
fpreading, kidney-fhaped, more or lefs pointed, crenate, veiny,
fmooth, of a delicate texture, often purple beneath. Stipube
radical, ovate, acute, fmooth, fcarcely perceptibly ferrated.
Flower-ftalks longer than the leaves, eredf, fquare, fmooth,
with a pair of lanceolate ere£t bradfeae about the middle, not
always below the middle as mentioned in the Flora Londinenfis.
F'lowers appearing in May, folitary, drooping, inodorous, paler
and fmaller than in the more common fpecies. Calyx-leaves
rather elliptical, flightly membranous at the edge. The 2 upper
petals are fcarcely ftreaked at a ll; the 2 lateral ones have one
dark longitudinal line, and are bearded with white near the
bafe ; the lowermoft is beautifully marked with numerous
branched ftreaks, and terminates behind in a fhort blunt honeybearing
fpur. The antherse are bordered with an orange-
coloured membrane ; but, though collected together, they are
fcarcely united, any more than in other fpecies of Viola, fo that
whether the Linnaean Syftem remain in its original form or not,
this genus ought no longer to continue in the clafs Syngenefia.
Stigma acute, with a fingular protuberance above it.
Such is our plant, which agrees precifely with the Linnxan
fpecimen. The Viola rubra Jlriata Eboracenfts Raii Syn. 365»
fliould feem by coloured copies of the Flora Danica to be t. 83
of that work; and the leaves are there reprefented lefs pointed,
or more truly kidney-fhaped, than ours, but we have no doubt
o f its being merely a variety.