1914] Cross,— Viola Selkirkii in Colorado 95 
its southernmost limit on the continent. One can but suppose that 
these stations indicate, as in the analogous case of V. biflora L., a 
once far more general distribution, of which the connecting links 
have been destroyed. 
The profusion of some of our mountain violets is almost beyond 
belief to one who has not actually witnessed it. The principal colony 
of V. Selkirkii on Garber Creek extends for over two miles, the plants 
being packed so thickly in places that the ground looks purple with 
their blossoms. In one locality within a radius of sixty paces no less 
than seven distinct species are found, as follows, naming them in 
decreasing order of abundance: — V. Selkirkii, V. renifolia var. 
Brainerdii (Greene) Fernald, V. nephrophylla, V. rugulosa Greene, 
V. adunca Smith, V. Nuttallii, and V. pedatifida; and near the head 
waters of this same stream V. palustris L. covers the wet soil as with a 
carpet. 
The favorite haunts of V. Selkirkii in our region appear to be on 
sloping banks, never very far from water, and under the shade of 
Pseudotsuga mucronata and Picea pungens. Here it occasionally 
reaches a height of six inches or more, and is often found in company 
with the two other old-world Violae, V. biflora and V. palustris; 
though it does not occur with them at subalpine elevations. The 
following table may explain the relative scarcity of the three species, 
tallying as it does with their lack of the natural facilities for propaga- 
tion :— 
V. palustris stolons common, cleistogamous flowers common; 
V. Selkirkit — * | none, i “common; 
V. biflora “ none, i "" none. 
It is difficult in the case of such a markedly distinct species as V. 
Selkirkii to suggest definite affinities. The fact that the cleistogamous 
capsules are splotched with dark purple, the stalks often reddish- 
streaked, would seem to indicate that it has heretofore been placed 
too close to V. palustris; and that it belongs more properly to the 
blanda-renifolia alliance. The prominent spur and the conspicuous 
long auricles at the base of the sepals are strongly suggestive of the 
caninae; but the stigma is very different. One peculiar feature, which 
I do not remember to have seen mentioned, is the bracteoles, which at 
least in the cleistogamous scapes are linear and blunt (almost ‘squared 
off’) with an abrupt sharp point. 
DENVER, COLORADO. 
