Steele Additions to the Flora of Washington. 71 



papilionacea. Specimens were collected April 27, May 1, and May 10, 

 1900, those of the first date not yet in full bloom, those of the last past 

 their prime. Apetalous flowers May 28, 1901. Duplicate type material 

 is deposited in the U. S. National Herbarium. In autumn, while V. 

 papilionacea was still green and flourishing, no traces of F. laetecaerulea 

 could be found; and this again seems to indicate its affinity for F. cucul- 

 lata. However, the plant is certainly a near relative of the common and 

 very beautiful F. papX'onar.ea of Pursh. At the same time, it curiously 

 simulates the real cucullata, that is, the glabrous pale-green blue-flowered 

 bog-meadow violet, in not only the color of the corollas and the pale- 

 green herbage, but even in the form of the leaves, length of leaf-stalks, 

 etc., etc. 



The species is to me the most interesting new one of all that I have 

 been called upon to name and describe in recent years: and this because 

 of the fact that in the volume of LeConte's colored drawings done 

 eighty years since, and now in my possession, just this plant is the sub 

 ject of one of his most beautiful figures; and I have for several years 

 been wondering when this almost mythical plant, so clear in its specific 

 characters according to LeConte's pencil and brush, would make its ap 

 pearance, and where it would come from. I had studied the plate so 

 often, and had the character and aspect of the species so well in mind 

 that instantly upon beholding Mr. Steele's specimens, I felt sure of their 

 identity with what LeConte so long ago had drawn and painted, but had 

 never published or even named. 



There is, however, a Latin note i LeConte's handwriting under the 

 figure, which may be rendered thus: "Differs from the common F 

 cucullata by the width and rotundity of its petals, the odd one being 

 small, as in F. palmata. The petals are not venulose. The petioles are 

 sometimes villous." 



In reading this note of his, it must be remembered that by F cucul 

 lata LeConte meant not what I have established to be true cucullata, 

 i. e., the bog-meadow plant, but rather the F. papilionacea. Edw. L. 

 Greene. 



8$a. Viola domestica Bicknell. 



I find a violet agreeing with the description of this near Captain 

 Jones' place beyond Chevy Chase Lake, at Widewater, and in other 

 places, but my observation tends to confirm the view of Mr. Pollard 

 that this is only a variety or form of F. papilionacea. 



Spa. Viola Labradorica Schrank. (F. canina sylvestris of previous 



lists.) 



A good many plants of this species have grown in a little glen along 

 Rock Creek above the entrance of Piny Branch, where it was noticed 

 especially in 1899. Seen also above Military Road; but it is a scarce 

 plant. 



325. Opuntia Opuntia (L.) Coult. 

 Plummer's Island, June 22, 1897. 



