ACCORDING TO SEASON 



Long- 

 spurred 

 violet 



Sweet 

 white violet 



Bird's- 

 foot violet 



Garden 

 pansy 



The long-spurred violet, another species with 

 leafy stems, as well as with pale lilac flowers that 

 are noticeably long spurred, is assigned by the 

 botanists to June and July, but it is on my May list 

 and I find it flowering with the other early species. 



Perhaps the least showy of the group is the 

 sweet white violet. This attractive little plant 

 grows abundantly in our wet woods, permeating 

 the immediate neighborhood with its faint, sweet 

 fragrance. With it we find frequently the lance- 

 leaved species, bearing flowers that are similar to 

 V. blanda, but with erect, narrow leaves, quite 

 unlike the rounded, heart-shaped ones of its kins- 

 man. 



A strikingly handsome, and to me more unusual, 

 member of the family is the bird's-foot violet. Its 

 blossom is velvety and pansy-like, often with one 

 or both of the upper petals of a darker shade. Its 

 leaves are deeply divided into narrow lobes. Be- 

 fore the Botanical Gardens came into being I used 

 to find it bordering the Bronx River. The nth 

 of May last, during a drive along the north shore 

 of Long Island, on the sandy banks by the road- 

 side, the more fresh and lovely because little else 

 seemed to flourish there, I saw it flowering in 

 abundance. 



A near relative of our wild violets, the garden 

 pansy, occasionally strays beyond its garden 



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