Latin Texts & Translations

Next after the roses and the lilies, the violet is held in the highest esteem: of this there are several varieties, the purple, ^[Note] the yellow, and the white, all of them reproduced from plants, like the cabbage. The purple violet, which springs up spontaneously in sunny spots, with a thin, meagre soil, has larger petals than the others, springing immediately from the root, which is of a fleshy substance. This violet has a name, too, distinct from the other wild kinds, being called "ion," ^[Note] and from it the ianthine ^[Note] cloth takes its name.

Among the cultivated kinds, the yellow ^[Note] violet is held in the greatest esteem. The Tusculan violet, and that known as the

"marine" ^[Note] violet, have petals somewhat broader than the others, but not so odoriferous; the Calatian ^[Note] violet, too, which has a smaller leaf, is entirely destitute of smell. This last is a present to us from the autumn, the others from the spring.