ON THE BLACK OR This heading continues the title from the previous page: "On the Black or Purple Violet"

...individual, beautiful, fragrant, of a purple color shifting into dark blue, occasionally but rarely white, composed of five small petals, of which the lowest is the largest; then there are hanging little cups calyces|the outer protective part of a flower that holds the petals which, upon ripening, split into three parts: the seed is small and oblong in its roundness: it is anchored by thin and fibrous roots. It remains green in winter as well as summer, being most patient of the cold. In shady places, near thickets, walls, and the edges of fields and gardens, it springs up frequently and in great numbers in rich soil: the flowers usually emerge in March, or when later, in the month of April.

the double violet among us
There is a certain type of this genus that multiplies the petals of its flowers referring to "double-flowered" varieties common in gardens, appearing in both purple and white; both are garden varieties.

There is also a certain wild kind, with smaller leaves and paler flowers, which are less fragrant or not at all: it grows in shady places, and along paths and the edges of fields, but in dry and barren soil.

The Greeks call the Violet ion original Greek: ἴον, and the purple ion original: ἴον πορφυροῦν, that is, the Purple Violet. Theophrastus a Greek philosopher and the 'father of botany' indeed calls it the black ion or melanion original: ἴον μέλαν ἢ μελάνιον, that is, the black Violet, from the dark purple color of the flowers. Pliny the Roman naturalist reports that this is the only one distinguished from other Violets by the Greek name, and is called ion, and that from these the Ianthine violet-colored garment is named. The apothecary shops officinae|the workshops or pharmacies of the era preserve the Latin name; yet they call the herb Violaria, and the "mother of violets." The Germans call the flower blue violet or March violet original German: "blau veiel oder Mertzenviolen": the French similarly call it Violet of March original French: "Violette de Mars", that is, the March Violet: the Belgians call them Violets original Dutch/Flemish: "Violetten".

Nicander a Greek poet and physician believes, as recorded in the Geoponica a collection of ancient agricultural lore according to Hermolaus Hermolao Barbaro, a Renaissance scholar who commented on ancient texts, that it was called ion by the Greeks because certain Ionian Nymphs first gave that flower to Jove Jupiter, the king of the gods as a gift. Others assert it was called ion because when Jupiter turned the girl he loved, Io, into a cow, the earth produced this flower for her grazing; having been created for her sake, it took its name from her. And from there also...