Order XV
VIOLARIEÆ. 1448 Cleóme W.
This is one of the most favorite orders with gardeners; consisting, as it chiefly does, of the Violet genus, from which most of the others are recent dismemberments. The greater part are hardy herbaceous plants, some of which are remarkable for their perfume, others for their brilliant colors, and all for their neatness. They are natives of the temperate or cold zones of both hemispheres, often growing at great elevations above the sea. Among them is a tribe called Alsodineæ, consisting of suffrutescent tropical plants; but none of them have been introduced into the gardens of this country. The attention of collectors should be directed to procuring the shrubby Violaceæ of Brazil, some of which possess great interest. The medical properties of the order are found principally in their roots, which appear to possess, in all cases, emetic properties, in a greater or less degree. One of the Ipecacuanhas is the root of a Brazilian violet. M. Decandolle has the following observations upon the affinities of the Violarieæ: - They are very nearly akin, he observes, to the Polygaleæ and Droseraceæ, and especially to the Passifloreæ. From the first they are distinguished by their unilocular fruit, leaves furnished with stipules and two-celled anthers; from Droseraceæ by their solitary style, lengthened embryo and stipulate leaves, the vernation of which is involutive, not circinate. From Passifloreæ they differ in their fruit being capsular, not berried; in their albumen being compact and shining, not pitted; in their stamens being hypogynous, not perigynous; in their anthers being attached along their whole length, not fixed by their middle; finally, in their stigmas being one and not three. The genus Calyptrion approaches Passifloreæ in its twining stem, and Hymenanthera borders upon Polygaleæ on account of its monospermous pericarpium with solitary pendulous seeds. 541 Ionídium Vent. 540 Víola W.