lO Rhodora [January 



It may be well here to rehearse briefly the methods of reproductive 

 economy that prevail in those species of Viola that have neither 

 stems nor stolons. The petaliferous flowers that appear in May 

 have a special mechanism that ensures cross-fertilization. They are 

 believed to be sterile unless visited by insects with pollen from 

 another flower. Their infertility has been often observed, especially 

 in foreign gardens, from which doubtless the requisite insects were 

 absent. But in the wild I have, during the past season, found these 

 capsules to be usually fertile. It takes three or four weeks from the 

 time of flowering for the capsule to ripen its seeds. It then splits 

 into three boat-shaped valves with very thick rigid keels. As the 

 thin sides of the valve dry and contract, the seeds within are more 

 and more pinched, until they fly out, one or two at a time, to a dis- 

 tance of several feet. (See Rhodora, iv. 183 & 230.) 



Soon aftet petaliferous flowering, the plant begins to produce from 

 the crown of the rootstock minute, apetalous, self-fertilized flowers on 

 peduncles that are short and horizontal, or long and ascending, 

 according, for the most part, as the plant grows in a dry or in a wet 

 situation. But in all cases as the capsule ripens, the peduncle 

 lengthens; and the effort of the plant is to lift the capsule into the 

 air, and to raise it from a nodding to an erect position, after which 

 it opens and scatters its seeds, as did the earlier capsules. When 

 thickly covered with dead leaves the blanched peduncles are often 

 six or more inches in length, and may never succeed in getting the 

 ri[)e capsules up into the air. But I certainly have never discovered 

 in the "cleistogenes " any "tendency to bury themselves deep in the 

 ground instead of remaining close to the surface," such as Mr. 

 Pollard attrilnites to V. diwiestica, Bicknell. (Bot. Gaz. xxvi, 337.) 

 The mature capsules of all species are normally "aerial" and not 

 " hypogaeous.'' 



A vigorous plant under favorable circumstances, especially in the 

 open, will continue to bear fruit from cleistogamous flowers from July 

 till the last of October. The cool wet weather of last August was 

 specially favorable for all species of violets, and they bore abundant 

 fruit in the autumn. The capsules of the apetalous flowers usually 

 differ somewhat in appearance from those of the petaliferous flowers. 

 They have this advantage for purposes of study that they may be had 

 at almost any time during a period of three or four months. It is 

 upon differences that are found in the apetalous flowers and their 



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