686 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF [Oct.^ 



II. Caulescent Species. 



I. — Flowers yellow. 



a. — Plants strongly pubescent, V. pubescens^ 



aa. — Plants nearly glabrous, V. scahriuscula. 



II. — Flowers lilac-purple, V. muhlenhergii, 



III. — Flowers white or cream-colored, V. striata, 



IV. — Flowers white tinged with yellow and blue, stipules very large 

 and laciniate, leaves small, mostly lanceolate, V . rafinesquii. 



The caulescent violets in the vicinity of Philadelphia are much less 

 variable than the acaulescent forms, and the species are much more 

 sharply defined. 



The yellow-flowered group is the most generally distributed. 



26. Viola pubescens Ait. 



Viola pubescens Alton, 1789, Hort. Kewensis, III, p. 290. 

 Viola jyensylvanica Michaux, 1S0.3, Flor. Bor. Am., II, p. 149. 

 Viola pubescens eriocarpon Nuttall, 1818, Genera N. A., PI. I, p. 150. 



Range. — Southeastern Pennsylvania northward to Pike and Monroe 

 counties (Porter), but apparently not on the higher Alleghanies; in 

 New Jersey throughout the northern counties south to Monmouth 

 (Britton). 



Habitat. — Dry woodland. 



Description. — Flowering plant, Elwyn, Delaware county, Pennsyl- 

 vania, April 27, 1902. No. 2,583, Herb., W. S. Stem strongly pubes- 

 cent, almost villous; stipules ovate, acuminate, nearly glabrous, except 

 on the margin ; leaves strongly pubescent above and below, reniform, 

 cucullate, dentate, 40 x 55 mm. ; petioles pubescent, 20-35 mm. Flowers 

 yellow, the lower and lateral petals lined with very dark purple, a small 

 spot of pubescence near the base of the laterals, 15-18 mm. broad; sep- 

 als linear-lanceolate; pedicels pubescent, 30-45 mm. long. These plants 

 are about 150 mm. high; about two-thirds up a large leaf branches off 

 dichotomously with the upper part of the stem, usually with a long 

 pediceled axillary flower; the upper part of the stem bears several 

 partly grown leaves and one or two short-stalked flowers; there are 

 no radical leaves. Sometimes two stems rise from the same root, 

 and one is often shorter than the other, bearing only one flower and 

 two leaves. 



Later fruiting plants are 300 mm. high, with four reniform or nearly 

 triangular leaves, successively smaller, and two or three axillary seed- 

 pods on successively shorter pedicels; pod 12 mm. long, sometimes 

 glabrous and sometimes pubescent; the stem is now nearly erect, 

 making the first leaf entirely lateral. There are often one or two 

 reniform radical leaves on petioles 160 mm. long. 



