196 BRAINERD: CAULESCENT VIOLETS OF SOUTHEASTERN U. S. 
Pursh, Reichenbach correctly states that it differs greatly from 
Dr. Torrey’s plant, which he accordingly renames V. conspersa 
(i. e., besprinkled), from the numerous minute dark dots and lines 
that he observed on the lower surface of the leaves. This 
phenomenon is often seen in herbarium specimens, not only of 
this, but of many other species of Viola, though not in the living 
plant. It is probably a pathological condition, caused by some 
bacterial activity in the tissue of plants that have been long in 
drying. Viola punctata Schwein., above mentioned, evidently got 
its name for a similar reason, as the ‘glandular punctures,” 
which the author observed on the upper surface of the leaves, are 
not ordinarily present. 
VioLa WALTER! House is an allied plant which botanists have 
been slow to recognize as specifically distinct, and still slower 
properly to christen. Walter, in 1788, called it V. canina, but it 
is not the European plant so named by Linnaeus; Elliott, in 1817, 
placed it under V. striata, but it is not the species so named by 
Aiton; Schweinitz, 1822, called it V. debilis, but it is not what 
Michaux had called V. debilis; Dr. Britton, 1894, called it V. 
multicaulis, but the name had been previously used by Jordan. 
We may hope that V. Walteri has come to stay. The species, 
though not common, is widely distributed through the southern 
states from the Atlantic coast to Texas. 
Viola Walteri affords an excellent illustration of the meta- 
morphism of stems into stolons. The petaliferous flowers of early 
spring apparently rise from tufts of radical leaves along with 
ascending stems. These soon lengthen, become prostrate, and 
bear through the season leaves and apetalous flowers on long 
slender axillary peduncles. In autumn the prostrate stems are 
usually buried under fallen leaves, and surviving the winter send 
up in spring from their tips rosettes of leaves, form roots, and 
become new plants. In this method of reproduction V. Walteri 
closely resembles V. odorata, classed as a stemless violet with 
surface runners that bear leaves and cleistogamous flowers, as 
well as form new plants. 
VIOLA ROSTRATA Muhl. is noteworthy for being without a 
synonym; its extremely long spur distinguishes it conspicuously 
from all other violets. Yet aside from its floral characters it 
