Violets of the Atlantic Coast. 89 



applying to it the original specific name villosa, to which he ap- 

 pends the abbreviation " n. var." It is certainly one of the mar- 

 vels of systematic botan}- that a plant described by Walter in 

 1788 as Viola villosa should be able to reappear, first as V. cucul- 

 lata var. cordata in 1867, and then as V. palmata var. villosa, 

 " n. var." in 1895 ! 



Tbe species has an early blooming period, and may be found 

 on dry hillsides, usually in rich soil, alwa3^s distinguishable on 

 account of its leaves, which are round-cordate, almost orbicular 

 in outline, and lie closely impressed on the ground ; they are 

 variegated with purple veins beneath, and exhibit a delicate, 

 silvery pul)escence. The flowers are rather small, reddish-purple 

 in hue, and the plant sends up l)ut few leaves and flowers from 

 a simple rootstock. 



Viola sagittata, another of Alton's species, has received uni- 

 versal acceptance, but it has also been made to include some 

 forms for which we can find no warrant in the original descrip- 

 tion. The leaves are there referred to as " unequally and re- 

 motely serrate, incised-sinuate below the middle, subpubescent, 

 cordate-sagittate, oblong." * This seems sufficiently clear for all 

 practical purposes, and yet in one of our Ijotanical text-books. 

 V. sagittata is described as follows : " Smoothish or hairy ; leaves 

 on short and margined, or the later often on long and naked 

 petioles, varying from oblong-heart-shaped to halberd-shajied, 

 arrow-shaped, oblong-lanceolate or ovate, denticulate, sometimes 

 cut-toothed near the base." 



Such a description is not merely faulty but false. The author 

 of the species states distinctly that the leaves are " incised-sinuate 

 below the middle;" yet when a student learns that they are 

 "sometimes cut-toothed near the base," as stated above, he is 

 apt to mistake ty})e for variation, gaining, accordingly, an incor- 

 rect conception of the species ; and this is precisely what has 

 ha})|)ened in the case of V. sagittata. The plant which Alton 

 had in mind is far less common than is generally supposed. It 

 has rather ol)tuse sagittate or hastate glabrous leaves, which 

 although at first borne on ])etioles scarcely exceeding the scapes, 

 soon become greatly elongated, the petiole attaining a length of 

 twice or thrice that of the blade, the base of which is always 

 sharply dentate or deeply incised. Even at the early vernal 

 stage the smooth leaf with its peculiar base serves to differentiate 



*A literal translation. See Alton, 1. c. 



