Wild Flowers East of the Rockies 215 

 SWEET WHITE VIOLET (Viola blanda) is the 



most fragrant of our wild violets, regardless of color. 

 It is a most charming plant, but very diminutive, in 

 fact it is probably the smallest of the entire family. 

 Occasionally we may find them in some exceptional- 

 ly favorable locality growing to a height of perhaps 

 six inches, but the usual height will barely exceed 

 two inches. The plant is stemless, that is the leaf 

 stems and flower stalks all spring directly from the 

 root. 



The delicate, white flowers are small, barely a 

 half inch across and many of them not more than 

 a quarter of an inch. The petals are not widely ex- 

 panded, and the top two are usually more or less 

 curved backwards; the three lower petals are very 

 delicately veined near the throat with purple, and 

 the lateral ones are sometimes fringed of bearded. By 

 the way, this beard that is found on most of the violets 

 is there for a purpose, to prevent crawling insects, 

 such as small ants, from gaining admittance to the 

 store of nectar in the spur back of the throat. Useful 

 bees or butterflies can reach through with their 

 tongues, but it is almost impossible for other pilfer- 

 ers to force their way through bodily. 



The leaves of the common white violet are rounded 

 heart-shaped with slightly scalloped or round-toothed 

 edges. It is very common in swamps and moist woods 

 throughout the United States and southern Canada. 



LANCE-LEAVED VIOLET (Viola lanceolata) is a 

 taller, more slender species growing from 3 to 8 

 inches high. Its leaves are lance-shaped, scallop-edg- 

 ed and on long stems from the root. The white flow- 

 ers are only slightly fragrant; the three lower petals 

 are strongly veined with purple and the two side ones 

 are rarely bearded. It is commonly found in swamps 

 and moist ground from N. S. to Minn, and south- 

 wards, flowering from April to June. 



