BRAINERD: FIVE NEW SPECIES OF VIOLA 527 
the middle or all three primary segments 2—3-cleft, the divisions 
oblanceolate or linear, crenately serrate toward the summit and 
bearing a few long narrow teeth below, the central division much 
the widest; flowers violet-purple, lateral petals bearded at the 
throat, spurred petal somewhat villous; cleistogamous flowers 
and fruit on short underground peduncles till seeds ripen; capsules 
green, turning gray, broadly ellipsoid, about 8 mm. wide and 13 
mm. long, with lanceolate sepals one third as long; their —— 
short, appressed, the three outer dentate; seeds brown, 2.5 m 
long. (PLATEs 34 and 35)—Limestone barrens, West Nashville, 
Tennessee, W. W. Eggleston, no. 4421, May 26, 1909, type. 
Flowers and mature fruit and leaves observed from plants trans- 
ferred to garden at Middlebury, Vermont 
This species is so distinct that at first sight of the growing 
plant one might not suspect to what known violets it was nearest 
of kin. It is a vigorous plant under cultivation. In the early 
stages of its growth the leaves spread out horizontally in all 
directions, and the roots penetrate deeply into the soil. In mid- 
summer, when cespitose, the leaves are most of them erect and 
long-petioled. I know of no violet whose cleistogamous flowers 
and fruit are more thoroughly concealed under the soil; and as a 
result the capsules are rarely eaten into by beetles, often trouble- 
some pests when one is endeavoring to collect violet seeds. Only 
a day or two before its seeds ripen does this unique species extrude 
its round green capsule from the ground, and lift it erect from its 
nodding position on the peduncle. Then after an hour or two 
of fair weather the three broad valves open widely, disclosing 
its large brown seeds; and in another hour, by the contraction of 
the thin sides of the valves, the seeds are pinched out and flirted 
in all directions. : 
This violet has as yet been found at one station only. But it 
may be expected to appear, to the collector who is looking for it, 
in many other of the extensive limestone barrens of Tennessee, 
and of northern Alabama and Georgia. 
The types of the five species described in the present paper will 
be deposited in the herbarium of the New York Botanical Garden. 
MIDDLEBURY, VERMONT. 
