Violaceae

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Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture

Violaceae (from the genus Viola, the ancient Latin name). Violet Family. Fig. 40. Herbs, shrubs or small trees, rarely climbing: leaves usually alternate: flowers bisexual, regular or irregular; sepals 5, separate or nearly so; petals 5, 1 often spurred; stamens 5, hypogynous or slightly perigynous, closely connivent around the style, similar or dissimilar (2 spurred); ovary 1-celled; placentae 2-5, usually 3, parietal; ovules many; style 1: fruit a firm capsule with placenta: on the middle of the valves, rarely a berry and indehiscent. Violaceae has 15 genera and about 300 species, of which about 200 belong to the genus Viola. These genera are grouped in three tribes: the Violeae, with irregular flowers, found chiefly in Europe, Siberia and North America, although the woody species are mainly natives of tropical America; the Paypayroleae and Rinoreeae, with regular flowers, are principally found in South America, Africa and Australia. The family is closely related to the Cistaceae. The tendency to irregular flowers, the peculiar stamens, the 1-celled ovary with usually 3 parietal placentae, and the anatropous ovules, are distinctive. In the genus Viola and some other genera, a finger-like curved nectar-secreting horn projects backward from the connective of each of the two lower anthers into the spur of the lower petal. In many species of Viola, almost all the seeds are produced by small apetalous cleistogamous flowers on short pedicels near the ground in midsummer, after the normal flowering period is over. These are very fertile, and quite diverse in structure, and, therefore, useful in classification. Cleistogamous flowers are also produced in the genus Hybanthus. The capsules of most Violaceae open elastically when ripe, the valves springing back and at the same time folding on the midrib so that the seeds are forcibly ejected as one would shoot a wet apple seed from between the fingers. The Violaceae have been used to a certain extent in medicine, their virtues being due to an alkaloid having emetic and laxative properties. Hybanthus ipecacuanha (“white ipecacuanha” of commerce) furnishes a substitute for ipecac. Various species of Viola and other genera have been used in many countries for skin diseases, as emetics, laxatives, and the like. Several species are ornamental. Three genera are in the American trade: Corniostylis or Calyptrion, a species of greenhouse woody climbers; Hybanthus or Solea, of the garden; and Viola (Common Pansy, Horned Pansy, Sweet English Violets, Wild Violets). CH The above text is from the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture. It may be out of date, but still contains valuable and interesting information which can be incorporated into the remainder of the article. Click on "Collapse" in the header to hide this text.

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References

• Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture, by L. H. Bailey, MacMillan Co., 1963

External links

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