Proserpina, Volume 2

"The violet is a plant without a stem whose height does not surpass one or two decimetres. Its leaves, radical, or carried on stolons, are sharp, or oval, crenulate, or heart-shape. Its stipules are oval-acuminate, or lanceolate. Its flowers, of sweet scent, of a dark violet or a reddish blue, are carried each on a slender peduncle, which bends down at the summit. Such is, for the botanist, the Violet, of which the poets would give assuredly another description".