Voi,. II.] VIOLET FAMILY. 445 



Family 79. 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, imbri- 

 cated in the bud, the lower one generally larger or spurred. Perfect stamens 5, 

 hypogynous; anthers erect, connivent in a ring, or syngenesious, sessile or on 

 short filaments. 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 posteriori y. 



Petals nearly equal ; stamens syngenesious. 2. Cubelium. 



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



i. VIOLA L. Sp. PI. 933. 1753. 



Herbs, with alternate or basal leaves, and axillary or scapose solitary (rarely 2) flowers. 

 Flowers mainly of 2 kinds, the early ones petaliferous, showy and often sterile, long-scaped, 

 or peduncled, the later ones produced on runners, stolons, or shorter peduncles, apetalous 

 or cleistogamous and abundantly fertile. Sepals of the petaliferous flowers nearly equal, 

 more or less prolonged posteriorly; petals spreading, the lower one larger, spurred or sac- 

 cate; stamens 5, the two inferior ones spurred. Capsule elastically dehiscent into 3 valves. 

 Seeds ovoid-globose. [The Latin name.] 



About 150 species, widely distributed. Besides the following, some 25 others occur in the 

 southern and western parts of North America. All are normally spring-flowering, but many bloom 

 a second time in autumn, and the cleistogamous flowers are sometimes imperfectly petaliferous. 



rr Acaulescent, the leaves and scapes arising from rootstocks; sometimes stoloniferous late in the season. 



t Rootstocks thick, short, scaly, erect'oblique or horizontal. 

 Petals blue, purple or violet, varying to white. 



Petals, at least the lateral ones, bearded toward the base. 

 Leaves, at least the later ones, lobed or parted. 



Leaves, at least the later ones, variously lobed, the middle lobe and also the lateral ones 



usually broad. i. V. palmata. 



Leaves thin, subpedately parted into linear or oblanceolate acute lobes; eastern. 



2. V. Atlantica. 



Leaves thick, all pedately parted into linear obtuse lobes; western. 3. V. ped.atifi.da. 

 Leaves merely crenate or dentate, none lobed, the base sometimes incised. 



Leaves reniform, orbicular or broadly ovate; pods of cleistogamous flowers on horizon- 

 tal peduncles. 



Glabrous, or with a few scattered hairs. 4. V. obliqua. 



Villous or pubescent. 



Leaves usually appressed to the ground; hairs appressed. 5. V. villosa. 



Leaves usually ascending; pubescence villous. 6. V. sororia. 



Leaves, at least the later ones, lanceolate, oval or ovate ; pods of cleistogamous flowers 



on erect peduncles. 

 Leaf-blades lanceolate, usually much longer than the petioles, the base mostly 



incised. 7. V. sagittata. 



Leaf- blades ovate, oval or ovate-lanceolate, usually not longer than the petioles; 



plant mostly villous. 8. V. ovala. 



Petals all beardless. 



Leaves pedately parted; plant not stoloniferous; native. 9. V. pedata. 



Leaves crenate; plant with long stolons; introduced. 10. V. odorata. 



Petals pale yellow; leaves thin, cordate, crenate. u. V. rotundifolia. 



f f Rootstocks very slender or filiform, horizontal or creeping; none of the leaves lobed. 

 Petals violet, or blue, sometimes pale; northern species. 



Leaves crenulate: spur about i " long. 12. V. palustris. 



Leaves crenate; spur 2 !4 "-4" long. 13. V.Selkirkii. 



Petals white, often purplish or brownish veined. 



Leaves broadly ovate, orbicular, or reniform, the blade not decurrent into the petiole. 



Glabrous, or nearly so; leaves ovate, orbicular, or some of them reniform. 14. V. blanda. 

 Pubescent all over, at least when young; leaves nearly all reniform. 15. V. renifolia. 

 Leaves linear, lanceolate, oval or ovate, the blade decurrent into the petiole. 



Leaves ovate, or oval, often pubescent. 16. V. primulaefolia. 



Leaves lanceolate, or linear, glabrous. 17. V. lanceolata. 



X- * Caulescent, leafy-stemmed, the flowers axillary. 

 Petals bright yellow. 



Leaf-blades lanceolate, tapering into the petiole. 18. V. Nuttallii. 



Leaves hastate, orbicular, or reniform; stem often leafless below. 



Leaves hastate-lanceolate or hastate-ovate. 19. V. hastata. 



Leaves orbicular, broadly ovate, or reniform. 



Villous, or pubescent; basal leaves usually wanting at flowering time. 20. V.pubescens. 

 Sparingly pubescent, or glabrate; basal leaves usually present at flowering time. 



21. V. scabriuscula. 



