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and the lower is broader and keeled, paler and veined with dark 

 purple stripes, the base projecting to form a spur, in which a 

 fragrant honey is found. The stamens are five, the two lower 

 ones spurred, and all bear an orange-colored prolongation beyond 

 the anthers, which project and surround the green club-shaped 

 stigma, with a very small central stigmatic surface. The ovary 

 is superior, one-called, three-angled, three-parted when ripe and 

 bears the seeds in three rows on the walls. The five sepals also 

 are unequal, thickened at base and auricled. The peculiar 

 structure of the stamens and the fact that two of them have 

 claws extending down into the honey-bearing spur are evidently 

 aids in the fertilization by insects, and many of the violets are 

 known to hybridize. 



Viola pedata was named by Linnaeus in 1753 in his Species 

 Plantarum but it was first described and figured by Plukenet in 

 1 69 1 as " Viola virginiana tricolor, foliis multifidis, cauhculo 

 aphylla." In the vicinity of Washington, D. C, and Harrisburg, 

 Pennsylvania, the form known as hicolor, in which the two upper 

 petals are dark purple, is more common. About one hundred 

 and fifty species of violets are known from all the temperate 

 parts of the globe. A few occur at high altitudes in the tropics. 

 The Violaceae comprise fifteen genera and three hundred species, 

 widely distributed ; some of them are trees. 



Elizabeth G. Brixton. 



