1Q04] Braincrd, — Notes on New P^ngland Violets 1 3 



will roll inward, and even the mature leaves will appear cucuUate 

 when dried. In the field I believe this character is of doubtful 

 value ; in the dried specimen it is often misleading. 



Viola ciui/llata, more than any of its allies, affects a cold situation. 

 It thrives near perennial springs and along cold brooks. It is the 

 common violet of mountain regions, where it is often found on wood- 

 roads and along highways. 



This species is omitted from Dr. Small's recently published Flora 

 of the Southern States. But there is in the Gray Herbarium a speci- 

 men of it, collected in the mountains of North Carolina by Rugel, 

 October 1841. It has petaliferous flowers that differ from those of 

 spring in having sepals with long auricles, such as regularly appear 

 in the apetalous dowers. For this reason Shuttleworth considered 

 Rugel's plant a distinct species. But numerous specimens from 

 several localities in Western Vermont show that Fiola cucullaia not 

 infrequently has petaliferous flowers in autumn, and that these as a 

 rule have long-auricled sepals. A period of mild, springlike weather 

 in autumn often causes the appearance of vernal flowers. It is as 

 though under this impulse the life-forces of the violet got confused, 

 and mixed the characters of its two kinds of flowers. The 

 V. macrotis and the V. leptosepala of Greene also remind one of this 

 "long-eared " form, which might occasionally occur in spring as well 

 as in autumn. 



2. V. venustula, Greene, is notably the smallest plant of the 

 group. The type is from the vicinity of Ottawa, Ont., but the species 

 is of frequent occurrence at low elevations in the Champlain Valley. 

 Probably when understood the species will be found to have a much 

 wider distribution.^ 



Under division *' C " we have a natural group of five species or 

 subspecies, in which the details of fiower and fruit are much alike. 

 They are separable from one another chiefly by features that 

 appear in the foliage — pubescence and lobation — characters which 

 are obvious enough when fully developed, but inconstant and inter- 

 grading. In the most pronounced form of V. pahnata the leaf is 

 5-7-parted ; but plants with 3-5-lobed leaves (var. dilaiaia, Ell.) 

 are perhaps more common ; and growing with these are plants with 



' I have recently seen specimens collected by Messrs. ]5issell and Andrews at 

 Lakevillein the northwest comer of Connecticut, and specimens from WilJoughby 

 Mt. collected by Mr. Kggleston. 



