Ionidium
(from Ion, a Violet, and eidos, resembling; in allusion to the Violet-like flowers). SYN. Solea. ORD. Violarieoe. A genus comprising forty species of herbs or sub-shrubs, natives, for the most part, of sub-tropical America. Flowers solitary, having the small unequal sepals running into the peduncle at base; petals unequal, lower ones two or three times longer than the rest, carinately-concave. Leaves alternate, or rarely opposite. The roots of several of the species are of economic value, being used as substitutes for