22 THE COMING OF SPRING 



Violet, was already wide awake and smiling, and 

 the three Whites were sending out a few stray flow- 

 ers to try if the air was warm enough to stir the 

 blue blood in their veins. The smallest of these, 

 Blanda, is our only native Violet that has a sugges- 

 tion of perfume other than the pungent birch odor 

 shared alike by Violets and Pansies. The Canada 

 Violet is the tallest of the trio, but its blossoms are 

 less distinctly white and sometimes might be mis- 

 taken for common Blue Violets gone pale, while 

 the Lance-leaved has stiffness for a characteristic; 

 stiff, narrow leaves and a way of holding its bearded 

 purple -veined petals primly erect. 



A little later and the Bird's-Foot Violet, of rich 

 color and finely cut leaves, will be on the hillside, 

 creeping toward the drier side of the woods, where 

 lives its downy yellow cousin, with straggling, leafy 

 stalks and flowers the color of Celandine. In the 

 lower springy woods, between old logs and mossy 

 stones, the paler Smooth Yellow Violet will greet 

 May -day under the shade of giant Jack -in -the - 

 Pulpits and have for company the strange Wild 

 Ginger blossoms that spend their brief existence 

 ear to earth, as if listening for a footstep. 



In short, one might talk a day away about the 

 tribe of Violet and not be done with it. No 



