[a L. viola violet.]
† 1. The violet. Also fig. Obs. rare.
c. 1430. Lydg., Minor Poems (1911), 300. Haile, fresshe Rose, planted in Iericho! Swettest viola, that neuer shal fade.
c. 1480. Henryson, Fables, Lion & Mouse, 16. The Rosis reid,… The Prymeros, and the Purpour Uiola.
2. A large genus of herbaceous plants of the order Violaceæ, including violets and pansies; a plant or species of this genus.
1731. Miller, Gard. Dict. [as Latin generic name, and so in many later Dicts.]
1843. Penny Cycl., XXVI. 345/2. The principle … has been separated by Boullay from some species or Viola. Ibid. The capsule is like Viola.
1888. Encycl. Brit., XXIV. 241/2. The violas are credited with powerful emetic and diuretic properties.
1904. Westm. Gaz., 23 July, 4/2. The Alpine viola, in wondrous shades of mauve and violet and purple, stands an inch above the grass.
b. A hybrid garden-plant of this genus, distinguished from the pansy by a more delicate and uniform coloring of the flowers.
1871. Field, II. 250/2. There is still a good early-flowering white Viola wanted.
1888. Encycl. Brit., XXIV. 241/2. ‘Bedding violas,’ which differ from pansies in some slight technical details, have been raised by crossing V. lutea with V. calcarata.
1897. Westm. Gaz., 22 Nov., 1/3. Patches of pale mauve and purple show where colonies of violas and pansies are in bloom.
attrib. 1871. Field, II. 250/2. Another manifest want in the Viola tribe.
1896. Daily News, 22 June, 3/5. Viola Show.—The first show of the National Viola Society was held on Saturday afternoon.
3. attrib. In chemical terms denoting substances derived from the violet or pansy.
1868. Watts, Dict. Chem., V. 1001. Violin, or Viola-Emetin, an emetic substance contained, according to Boullay, in all parts of the common violet.
1887. Buck’s Handbk. Med. Sci., V. 490/2. Little, if anything, or value has been found in pansy; a glucoside, violaquercitrin, of probably no active properties, and a little salicylic acid.
