DICOTYLEDONOUS PLANTS 109 



VIOLA'CE^, Violet Family 



Low perennial herbs having alternate leaves with leaf-like 

 stipules. Flowers on axillary peduncles. Sepals 5, persist- 

 ent. Petals o, one with a spur at base. Stamens 5, short, 

 with the filaments cohering around the pistil. Style club- 

 shaped, with a one-sided stigma. Pod 1-celled, splitting into 

 3 parts, each bearing seeds on the middle nerve. The seeds 

 are often scattered by the bursting of the elastic valves. 



VrOLA, Violet 



Sepals ear-like at the base. Petals somewhat bearded 

 within, thus affording a foothold for bees, the lowest one 

 with a spur at base. Stamens not cohering very much, the 

 lowest with spurs which reach down into the spur of the 

 lowest petal. 



a. V. palus'tris L. Stemless, low, from thread-like creeping root- 

 stocks. Leaves romid-cordate, 1-2 in. in diameter, faintly crenate. 

 Flowers pale lilac to white, with short, rounded, sac-like spurs. Northern 

 California to Alaska, growing in swampy places in the mountains. 



b. V. cani'na var. adun'ca Gray. Blue Violet. Stems leafy, 

 several from the rootstock. Leaves simple, ovate-cordate, with 

 leaf-Hke stipules. Flowers blue, tvith the spur as long as the sepals. 

 The side- petals are bearded. Widely distributed in the Coast 

 Mountains. 



c. V. ocella'ta T. & G. Heart's-ease. Stems leafy. Leaves 

 heart-shaped, crenate, with small papery stipules. Upper petals 

 tchite within, dark on the outside; the others pale yelloio, veined loith 

 purple; those on the sides tvith a purple spot near the base. In woods 

 from Monterey County northward. 



d. V. peduncula'ta T. & G. Paxsy. Stems leafy, with ovate 

 leaves wedge-shaped at the base. Stipules narrowly lance-shaped. 

 Flowers large, on long peduncles, deep yellow. Upper petals tinged 

 with brown on the outside, the others veined with purple, those on 

 the sides bearded. Common from southern to middle California. 



e. V. sarmento'sa DougL Creeping Violet. Stems creeping 

 by leafy stolons. Leaves finely crenate, round, with heart-shaped 

 base. Floivers light yellov). This grows in the woods of the Coast 

 Mountains. 



