LANCE-LEAVED VIOLET 



Viola lanceolata L. 



April - May These little white violets are often not more 



Moist acid sandy soils than three inches high, the flowers are small, 



delicate with dark red lines leading to the 

 center and they are fragrant with a strong, pervasive scent. The leaves are 

 from two to five inches long and about a half inch wide, tapered at both 

 ends with reddish petioles. 



They belong to the picture of spring in the north. Yet these violets 

 are very common in some poorly drained moist sandy fields in Lee, Cook 

 and Kankakee counties in northern Illinois and in a few other rare 

 hidden southern places in this state. 



Although most Avhite violets are creatures of the north — tlie little 

 lance-leaved violet of the glacial sands around northern lakes, the small 

 sweet white violets in a sphagnum bog or in a wet swale, the Canada 

 violet of the highlands. The pale or striped violet (Viola striata) is a 

 blossom for everyone to find and enjoy. It is spread fairly abundantly 

 through the woods and along the streams in Illinois, and blooms steadily 

 from the middle of April until June. 



This violet begins with a low, compact plant down in the grass of 

 the sunny woods. The flowers are creamy white with blue bee-lines on the 

 lower petal, and long, cream-colored fur in the center of the flower. I'he 

 stems at this stage are short, the leaves small. Then as the season advances 

 and shade gi'ows, the pale violet's plant grows, too. The stem becomes 

 long and rather weak, the deeply toothed stipules at the axils of the 

 leaves are long and ragged. The flowers, on thin stalks, are smaller now 

 and have narrower petals. But the charm of a white violet is still there 

 until at last in June the flower ceases blooming until another springtime 

 comes to the woods. 



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