CRITICAL NOTES ON CERTAIN VIOLETS. 97 
ing, higher up on the same page already quoted, a general 
descriptive line made to cover all the species from V. pedun- 
- culata to V. trinervata. The line is this: * Subacaulescent, 
. first flowering from the ground, and later usually more 
- ceaulescent."! Of none of the species is this true; and the 
error arises out of the author's having mixed, in the her- 
_ barium, species wholly distinct in nature. The most truly 
- caulescent species are obviously caulescent, even from the 
. earliest flowering stage; while in the others the caulescent 
_ character is as much obscured in the mature specimens of 
the later season as it is in the earlier stage; for in the late 
ones the leaves are longer and larger in full proportion to 
the increased length of stem, thus concealing the caulescent 
_ growth quite as effectually as it is concealed at the first. 
4 But here I may state the actual difference between the group 
X to which V. Nuttallii and premorsa belong, and that one 
_ which contains V. aurea and purpurea. The species of the 
former, like many eastern stemless violets, have the habit of 
displaying a luxuriant leaf-growth just after the flowering 
_ time; while the members of the other group do no such 
_ thing; their leafy stems being just as obvious at first glance 
when the plant is past flowering and in maturity as they 
were at the earlier stage. 
The truth is, then, that the northern plants, V. Nuttallii, 
etc., are constantly subacaulescent, whether young or old, 
and that the California species, needlessly confused with 
these in the work referred to, are like V. pedunculata dis- 
tinctly caulescent, even when young; and I must say that 
it would have been better systematizing—less fallacious, 
rather—to have merged V. Nuttallii and premorsa in one, 
than to have merged V. purpurea, aurea and pinetorum In 
either; two of these last being manifestly caulescent, while 
in the case of the others it takes sometimes a second look to 
determine, even in well-matured specimens, that they are 
ieu n b pd, pae E DPA OES: TNT 
1 Syn. FI, i. 199. 
