EARLY PURPLE VIOLET 



Viola nephrophylla Greene 

 VIOLET FAMILY 





Everyone knows and admires the violet, and with our 

 admiration is combined a warmer feeling, for it is a lovable flower 

 with a personal, almost human appeal. 



Out of the two hundred or more species that have been described 

 by botanists, Canada has her full share (whether with blue, purple, 

 white, or yellow flowers), but none is finer than this one, which 

 grows abundantly in wet meadows and beside ponds and streams 

 from Quebec to British Columbia. The large, long-stemmed blos- 

 soms are a true violet in color, wonderfully deep and rich if seen 

 when "violets bathe in the weto' the morn." If , some dewy morning, 

 it is your privilege to come upon a little pool, bordered with 

 these Early Purple Violets, then you have indeed chanced upon 

 one of the most exquisite of Nature's floral gems. You will 

 notice the rich, suffused beauty of the violet faces. You will 

 notice the tender green of the leaves, acting, by the contrast 

 of their simple freshness, as a foil to intensify the blushing beauty 

 of the violets which shyly peep forth above, bejewelled with 

 wonderful, translucent pearls of dew-drops. The human appeal 

 is so strong that one smiles in wondering if each violet face, 

 peeping into the expectant waters of the pool is simply greeting, 

 or studying awaking Nature. Or have we here simply the charm- 

 ing vanity of conscious beauty? 



A remarkable fact, not generally known, is that violets have 

 two kinds of flowers. The second kind are inconspicuous green 

 or purple buds on short, often prostrate, stems. The buds 

 do not open and yet they produce capsules full of seeds. When 

 this was first noticed by botanists of the eighteenth century, 

 it seemed such a wonder that they named that particular kind 

 the Miracle Violet. It has since been found that with few excep- 

 tions all violets produce these cleistogamous flowers, as they are 

 called. Self-fertilization in the bud is of course the explanation 

 of the wonder. 



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