192 BRAINERD: CAULESCENT VIOLETS OF SOUTHEASTERN U. S. 
is shaped more like a halberd, or an ancient battle-ax, than a 
spearhead. The upper surface is often mottled with a lighter 
green, due to the presence of minute air vessels in the epidermis. 
Several other species, V. hirsutula, V. villosa, and V. Waltert, 
have this leaf marking, especially in the South. But the most 
striking character of V. hastata is the long, white, brittle rootstock, 
resembling that of Dentaria diphylla. The other species of the 
section have short, woody rootstocks with coarse fibrous roots. 
VIOLA TRIPARTITA Ell. has the distinction of being the only 
stemmed violet with cut leaves found east of the Rocky Moun- 
tains; but on the Pacific coast it is well matched by V. Jobata. 
Though the specific difference between the two is pronounced: 
they have several characters in common besides the dissected 
leaves: the same coarse fibrous roots, the same purple tinge on 
the outside of the otherwise yellow petals, the same marked 
variability in pubescence, and the same fondness for the com- 
panionship of a variety with uncut leaves. 
VIOLA TRIPARTITA Ell. var. GLABERRIMA (Ging.) Harper is the 
name now accepted for this variety of the eastern species. The 
history of the plant in systematic botany is interesting. It was 
first published by Schweinitz as a species, V. striata,* though he 
was well aware that the name had already been given to a different 
species. He describes it as very glabrous—‘‘glaberrima’’—but 
afterwards notes that ‘‘in a very few instances hairs were scattered 
on the nerves of the underside of young leaves.’ He says further: 
‘Mr. Leconte first found it in our vicinity [Salem, N. C.] and 
directed my attention to it, and by continued observation, I am 
well assured of its being a very good and constant species.” 
Two years later, in DeCandolle’s Prodromus, 1: 300. 1824, 
Gingins disposed of Schweinitz’s V. striata as V. hastata var. glaber- 
rma. This may have been at the suggestion of LeConte, for in 
his final paper on Viola, in 1826, Le Conte, without giving any 
credit to Gingins, treats both the V. striata of Schweinitz and the 
V. tripartita of Elliott as forms of V. hastata, adding the following 
remarkable statement: ‘‘ V. striata Schwein. was formerly taken 
by me for a distinct species, but by culture I found that it was a 
mere variety, and sometimes the result of accident. _In fact, if the 
*Am., Jour. Sci. 5: 76. 1822. 
