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Floral Illustrations of the Seasons / Consisting of the Most Beautiful, Hardy and Rare Herbaceous Plants, Cultivated in the Flower Garden cover

Floral Illustrations of the Seasons / Consisting of the Most Beautiful, Hardy and Rare Herbaceous Plants, Cultivated in the Flower Garden

Chapter 44: VIOLA palmata.
By Margaret Roscoe
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About This Book

A series of hand-drawn and engraved botanical plates paired with succinct Latin classifications and practical cultivation notes, arranged to follow the seasons. Each entry describes plant form, varieties, propagation and soil or exposure preferences, and suggests garden uses for hardy herbaceous ornamentals. The preface frames the volume as an accessible guide intended to encourage aesthetic appreciation and botanical study, particularly among women, by combining accurate description with visual representation.

Plate 15. Viola Palmata.
Drawn from Nature by M.R. Engraved by R. Havell Junr.

VIOLA palmata.

Palmate leaved Violet.

Class and Order. Pentandria Monogynia.

Syn. Viola palmata. Pursh Flo. N. A. vol. i. p. 172.
 — Viola palmata. Nuttall's Gen. N. A. vol. i. p. 147.

Root tuberous—leaves radical, on very long petioles, palmate, lobes deeply dentate—peduncles one flowered, radical, tinged with purple—calyx five segments linear acute—corolla blue lilac, paler on the under side, petals five, broad, obtuse, pencilled at the base with a darker shade, lower part of the middle petal terminating in a spur—stamens five, anthers obtuse—style slender, stigma globose.

The genus Viola is a very numerous one, and can boast of many ornamental species—endless varieties are constantly raised from seed, chiefly of Viola tricolor, though these may at first vary, there is little dependance to be placed on them, as they frequently return to the original species; the number of distinct species, however, is very considerable, amongst which is the one figured; a desirable plant for the front of the borders where it will remain in beauty for a long time—it is a native of North America, and according to the Bot. Cab. p. 1471, grows on dry hills from New England to Virginia. Prof. Nuttall says in his genera of North American plants, vol. i. p. 147, "the genus Viola within its proper limits, is almost equally divided betwixt Europe and the temperate parts of North America." This species was first brought into this country in 1739, though still a scarce plant in our gardens:—the Violas are all well adapted for rock work, and flourish most in a light rich soil and shady situation. They may be increased either by parting the roots, by cuttings, or by seeds; the latter of which are produced in great abundance, and are dispersed by the peculiar elasticity of the capsule, which as soon as its contents are matured, ejects them with considerable force, sometimes to a great distance. Some of the most beautiful species are

V. pedata. præmorsa.
— altaica. flabelliflora.
— hederacea. primulifolia.
— lutea. grandiflora.
— blanda. lanceolata.
— uniflora. Nuttallii.
— odorata.
— cornuta.

Pl. 15.