1908] | Brainerd,— Viola chinensis in the United States 39 
I first made the acquaintance of Viola chinensis in the violet beds 
of the New York Botanical Garden. "Numerous seedling plants 
were noticed, scattered about and growing with other species. In 
several instances it was the only plant that answered to a label such as 
Viola hirta (of Europe) or V. odontophora (of the Rocky Mts.). Evi- 
dently in these cases the plant originally set had died, and the self- 
sown V. chinensis, springing up in its place, had been taken by the 
gardener for the rightful plant. At the time I utterly failed to make 
out the proper name of the usurper; but plants and seeds were ob- 
tained for further study in my own garden. 
I soon learned to connect this puzzle with another. In the Britton 
Manual, p. 637, there is described a stemless, purple violet, “escaped 
from cultivation and established, Washington, D. C. Adventive from 
Europe," under the name “ Viola lancifolia 'Thore." But a moment's 
reference to a European Botany reveals the fact that Thore’s V. 
lancifolia is a stemmed violet, allied to, if not a variety of, the Dog- 
violet (V. canina). Yet however unaccountable the use of this name 
might be, the plant so designated by Mr. Pollard was evidently identi- 
cal with the lusty stranger at Bronx Park. 
The plants transferred to the Middlebury garden seemed but little 
disturbed by the change, and kept on producing seeds until late in the 
autumn. The following spring numerous young plants came up 
within a radius of eight feet from the mother plants, so that I destroyed 
the fine crop that had appeared from seeds intentionally sown in the 
seed boxes,— realizing that my guest was making himself rather too 
much at home with me. A few weeks later I received living plants of 
the same thing from Prof. Fernald, of Cambridge, who spoke of it as 
a strange violet which “has become a weed in a large portion of the 
Botanic Garden." 
On my next visit to Washington, last April, I was able through the 
kind assistance of Mr. Theo. Holm to clear up much of the mystery 
that had surrounded the plant. Specimens sent to Mr. W. Becker, 
the violet specialist of Berlin, were pronounced by him to be Viola 
chinensis С. Don, a native of Eastern Asia. Mr. Holm was informed 
at the Botanic Garden that the plants came from seed obtained in 
England about twenty years ago, and that it had spread as a weed in 
the garden. I saw it also well established in the grounds about Mr. 
Holm's residence in Brookland, D. C., to which he had transferred 
plants about ten years previous. 
