ROCK-ROSE FAMILY. 



8. Lechea juniperina Bicknell. Alaine 

 Pin-weed. Fig. 2921 



Lechea juniferina Bicknell, Bull. Torr Club 24: 88. 



1897. 



Tufted, 4-20' high, finely hoary to canescent. 

 Branches short, ascending or erect, leafy, ap- 

 pressed, forming a dense narrow panicle ; stem- 

 leaves numerous, ascending or appressed, gla- 

 brous, except the midrib and margins, linear- 

 oblong to oblanceolate, 5"-io" long, i"-2" wide; 

 flowers numerous, crowded; pedicels i"-ii" 

 long; fruiting calyx ovoid-ellipsoid, f" long; 

 inner sepals elliptic, nerveless or faintly 3-nerved, 

 often deep purple, the outer shorter, bright 

 green ; leaves of basal shoots oblong or elliptic, 

 2"-3" long, i"-i" wide. 



Coast of Nova Scotia to New Hampshire. Aug. 

 Petals brownish red. The basal shoots do not ap- 

 pear until September. 



9. Lechea stricta Leggett. Bushy or 

 Prairie Pin-weed. Fig. 2922. 



Lechea stricta Leggett ; Britton, Bull. Torr. Club 21 : 

 251. 1894. 



Erect, i2'-i6' high, densely and fastigiately 

 branched, densely strigose-canescent, pale, very 

 bushy. Branches slender, ascending or nearly 

 erect ; leaves of the stem linear-oblong, 6"-i2" 

 long, i"-i" wide, acute or bluntish ; leaves of the 

 basal shoots linear-oblong, much smaller than 

 those of the stem, 2" -3" long, \" wide or less, 

 acute; pedicels slender, i"-i|" long; outer sepals 

 shorter than or equalling the inner; capsule sub- 

 globose to oval, i"-i" in diameter. 



In open dry places, western New York to Minne- 

 sota, Wisconsin and Nebraska. July-Aug. 



Family 90. VIOLACEAE DC. Fl. Franc. 

 4: 801. 1805. 

 VIOLET FAMILY. 



Herbs or shrubs, with alternate or basal (rarely opposite) simple entire lobed 

 or laciniate stipulate leaves, and solitary or clustered flowers. Sepals 5, equal or- 

 unequal. Flowers perfect, mostly irregular. Petals 5, hypogynous, imbricated in 

 the bud, the lower one generally larger or spurred. Perfect stamens 5, hypogy- 

 nous ; anthers erect, connivent in a ring, or syngenesious, sessile or on short fila- 

 ments. Ovary i, i-celled; placentae 3, parietal; style simple; stigma generally 

 oblique. Capsule dehiscent by valves (except in some tropical genera with berry- 

 like fruit). Seeds anatropous, with a crustaceous testa; embryo mainly straight, 

 in copious endosperm. 



About 15 genera and 300 species, of wide distribution. 



Sepals more or less prolonged posteriorly. i. Viola. 



Sepals not prolonged posteriorly. 



Petals nearly equal ; stamens syngenesious. 2. Cubehum. 



Petals very unequal ; anthers only connivent. 3- Calceolaria. 



i. VIOLA [Tourn.] L. Sp. PI. 933. 1753-* 



Herbs, either leafy stemmed or stemless; petaliferous flowers mostly in early spring, suc- 

 ceeded, except in V. pedata, by cleistogamous flowers, that are usually without petals and 

 never expand, but bear abundant seed ; stamens five in the petaliferous flower, the two lowest 

 with appendages that project into the spur or nectar sac of the odd petal, these two stamens 

 alone developed in the cleistogamous flower. [The Latin name.] 



Allied species freely hybridize when growing together; the hybrids commonly display 



* Written by DR. EZRA BRAINERD. 



35 



