British- American Species of the Genus Vlula. 65 



The first and most beautiful of all the American violets 

 is V. pedata, a Saskatchawan and extreme Western species. 

 V. jjcdmata, Linn., which proves to be a constant and 

 distinct species, has, thus far, been found only in one place 

 in British America, viz., on the banks of the Sackville 

 River, at Lucyfield, although it is not rare in the Southern 

 and Western States. Of V. cucidlata, the common blue 

 violet, there are several forms. It abounds in the 

 maritime provinces generally, and in Ontario, and extends 

 far west, both in Canada and the United States. V. 

 sagittcda (including ovcda) is a rarer species, but still not 

 uncommon from the Atlantic seaboard to the western parts 

 of Ontario, wherever there are sandy soils dry and sunn}-- 

 banks. Its flowers are paler, and have more of a purplish 

 tinge than those of the common blue violet, and they come 

 later. V. rotundifolia is more circumscribed in its distribu- 

 tion. V. Uanda is the common white violet, so 

 abundant everywhere about Halifax, and throughout the 

 other maritime provinces and Ontario, growing in wet 

 places, and on alder banks. It is the first violet to bloom 

 in spring, appearing in average seasons in April with the 

 May-flower. Its flowers are delicately sweet-scented. We 

 read in Alton's "Hortus Kewensis," the standard work of its 

 time on garden plants, that this species was introduced to 

 England by His Royal Highness the Duke of Kent, who no 

 doubt obtained it at " The Prince's Lodge," near Halifax, 

 where it still aV)Ounds. F.^^j-mi^/a/c'/m was found for the 

 first time last summer in a swamp at the Three Mile 

 Church, near Halifax. It is closely related to the V. 

 Pcdrinii, described in the East Indian Floras as inhabiting 

 the Nilgherries. It does not appear to have been pre- 

 viously found in British America. It seeds sparingly, and 

 there seems reason to believe that it may be a hybrid 

 between V. lanceolata and V. Uanda ; this point still 

 remains to be determined. V. Innccolata is the white- 

 llowered, narrow-leaved violet, so common about Steele's 

 Pond and Lily Lake, usually found only in swamps and by 

 the margins of lakes. Althougli this species occurs in 

 Illinois and Kentucky, and is nowhere else so abundant as 

 in Nova Scotia, yet it appears to be absent from the greater 

 portion of the province of Quebec and the whole of Ontario. 



TRAXS. BOX. SOC. VOL. XIV. K 



