<e WILD, OR NATIVE I LOWERS. 



" Ve violets that first appear, 



" By your pure purple mantles known, 



" Like the proud virgins of the year 



" As if the spring were all your own. 



•' What are ye — when the rose is Mown ? " 



Good Sir Henry, we would niatcli the perfume of the lowly violet 

 ■even against the fragrance of the blushing rose. 



Though deficient in the scent of the ])urple Violet of Europe, we 

 have many lovely species among the native Violets of Canada. The 

 earliest is the small flowered 



Early White Violet — Viola blanda (Willd). 



This blossoms early in Anril, soon after the disappearance of the 

 snow. The light green smooth leaves may be seen breaking through 

 the black, damp, fibrous mould closely rolled inwaid at the margins; 

 the flowers are small, rather sweet scented, greenish white, with delicate 

 pencillings of purple at the base of the petals ; it is a moisture-loving 

 plant, and affects open, recently overflowed ground, near creeks. It 

 comes so early that we welcome its appearance thankfully for it 



" Tells us that winter, cold winter is past, 



And that spring, welcome spring, is returning at last." 



On pulling up a thrifty plant, late in the summer, it surprises you 

 "vvith a new set of flowers, quite different from the spring blossoms; these 

 are small, buds and flowers of a dull chocolate-brown, lying almost 

 covered over in the mould, with seed pods, some ready to shed the 

 ripened seed, others just formed. This mysterious little plant has 

 been distinguished by some botanists as Viola cla/ideslina, from the 

 curious hidden way in which it produces the subterranean flowers and 

 seeds ; others have considered it as identical with the next species. 



The Pexcillei) Violet, Viola rail folia, (Gray), 



which bears its white blossoms on rather long slender foot-stalks, and 

 which pre slightly larger than those of the above, milky white with dark 

 veinings. The leaves, although covered with soft hairs, have a curious 

 smooth and shining appearance. They are round heart or kidney-shaped, 

 notched at the edges. As the summer advances the foliage of the 

 Pencilled Violet increases in luxuriance and many white fibrous running 

 roots are produced in the loose soil. This attractive species may be 

 found in swamps and forests, growing amidst decayed wood and mosses, 

 and increasing after the same manner as Viola blanda. A point which 

 easily distinguishes this species from the last is the total absence of 

 scent ; the leaves, too, are much more pubescent — a character which is 

 very noticeable in the early morning when they are covered with dew. 



