ough the varieties were so modern, yet
that much confusion and doubt prevailed about their parentage. Florists
believe that the varieties[798] are descended from several wild stocks,
namely, _V. tricolor_, _lutea_, _grandiflora_, _amoena_, and _Altaica_,
more or less intercrossed. And when I looked to botanical works to
ascertain whether these forms ought to be ranked as species, I found
equal doubt and confusion. _Viola Altaica_ seems to be a distinct form,
but what part it has played in the origin of our varieties I know not;
it is said to have been crossed with _V. lutea_. _Viola amoena_[799] is
now looked at by all botanists as a natural variety of _V.
grandiflora_; and this and _V. sudetica_ have been proved to be
identical with _V. lutea_. The latter and _V. tricolor_ (including its
admitted variety _V. arvensis_) are ranked as distinct species by
Babington; and likewise by M. Gay,[800] who has paid particular
attention to the genus; but the specific distinction between _V. lutea_
and _tricolor_ is chiefly grounded on the one being strictly and the
other not strictly perennial, as well as on some other slight and
unimportant differences in the form of the stem and stipules. Bentham
unites these two forms; and a high authority on such matters, Mr. H. C.
Watson,[801] says that, "while _V. tricolor_ passes into _V. arvensis_
on the one side, it approximates so much towards _V. lutea_ and _V.
Curtisii_ on the other side, that a distinction becomes scarcely more
easy between them."

{369}

Hence, after having carefully compared numerous varieties, I gave up
the attempt as too difficult for any one except a professed botanist.
Most of the varieties present such inconstant characters, that when
grown in poor soil, or when flowering out of their proper season, they
produce differently coloured and much smaller flowers. Cultivators
speak of this or that kind as being remarkably constant or true; but by
this they do not mean, as in other cases, that the kind transmits its
character by seed, but that the individual plant does not change much
under culture. The principle of inheritance, however, does hold good to
a certain extent even with the fleeting varieties of the Heartease, for
to gain good sorts it is indispensable to sow the seed of good sorts.
Nevertheless in every large seed-bed