PRAIRIE VIOLET 



Viola pedatifida G. Don. 



April - May In the N'iold trilu tlicrc an' Iwo types of growth. 



Prairie roadsides TIumv mic stcinlcss violets and vjolfts with true stems: 



it's ii'< simph" as that, their division. The .<o-i'alled 

 stemless violets are like ihc coniinon blue violet and many others which 

 liave leaves and llowcrs on x'paratc .-talks I'i.-inu- from the true slmi. 

 This is really a thick, gnarly rootstoek urouinii- horizontally in the 

 ground. The stonmed violets have true stalks whieh rise from a librous 

 root. Ijcaves are })laced alternately uptm the foi'king stem, and the ilowers 

 on thin petioles s])rinu- from the axils of the leaves. The.«<e Howers produce, 

 seeds; in the steiidess violets, the colored ilowers seldom make seeds. 

 Instead, in sununer they produce short-stalked, green, fat. seed-making 

 Ilowers which have no jjctals. These are called cleistogamous lloweis; they 

 make large (piantities of seed-. These are dispersed when tlif three-parted 

 ])ods l)urst in lati' sununer and they usually germinate in great ahundance 

 to nuike many new violet seedlings. 



One of the stendess species is the pi'airie violet. Its tlowei's are 

 liirht lavendei--l)lue with a w liite-fuiii'd throat. Thev stand on loni:- ihin 

 stems above the leavi's whiih appear almost as if someone had taken 

 common blue violet leaves and with scissors had lobed them dee])ly. The 

 leaves of ]'i()l(i jtcilaiifiihi .somewhat re.send)le the still inore dee]dy cut 

 leaves of the bir(i-foot violet, but the Ilowers arc not large and their sha])e 

 and color prove them to be true j)rairie violets instead. They are found 

 on open jirairie soil between \\w railroad tracks and highways in many 

 places in the state. 



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