3 



28 



Minnesota Plant Life. 



Violets. \'iolets. of which there are several species in Min- 

 nesota, are well-known as flowers of the springtime and are 

 remarkable for a nnnibcr of structnral peculiarities among 

 which may be mentioned the development of their flow'ers singly 

 upon slender, almost leafless stems; for the upper- and under- 

 sidedness of the flower, wdiich in this respect superficially re- 

 sembles the flowers of larkspurs or of orchids; and for the 

 production in many varieties of small flowers, close to the sur- 

 face of the ground, incapable of opening, and, therefore, pol- 

 linated by their own pollen. The violets of Minnesota may be 

 di\"idc(l into the stemless 

 and stemmed varieties. 

 Actually they all have 

 stems, l)ut in the so-called 

 stemless sorts the leaves 

 and flower-bearing axes 

 arise from short, erect or 

 prostrate underground 

 stems, so that the leaves seem 

 tufted at the root, while in the 

 stemmed varieties, so named, 

 there is more or less branching 

 of the above-ground portion of 

 the plant-body. The stemless 

 varieties have, for the most 

 part, purple, lilac or wliite 

 flowers, while in the stemmed 

 violets, yellow, white or cream- 

 colored flowers are also to be found. Among the violets of 

 the state, which arc abundant and easily distinguished, are the 

 larkspur-leafed or prairie violet, with deeply-cut leaves, appar- 

 ently made up of seven or eight incised leaflets; the meadow 

 violet, with heart s]ia])cd leaves; the arrow-leafed violet, with 

 leaves shaped like arrow-heads; the bird's-foot violet, similar 

 in general apj^earance to the prairie violet, but distinguislied 

 from it by the beardless ])etals; the round leafed xiolel. with 

 abundant closed flowers, developed later in the \ ear than the 

 open ones; the marsh-violet, with its i)ale Hlac petals marked 

 with darker \eins; the sweet violet, with small, white, sweet- 



FiG. 1(51. Swfcl wliitc violet. After liritton 

 ;iiid Hrown. 



