Voi,. II.] 



VIOLET FAMILY 



3. Viola pedatifida Don. Prairie 

 Violet. (Fig. 2486.) 



Viola pedatifida Don, Card. Diet, i : 320. 1831 . 



Viola delphinifolia Nutt.; T. & G. Fl. N. A. 

 i: 136. 1838. 



Minutely pubescent or almost glabrous, 

 acaulescent. Leaves and scapes $'-8' high, 

 arising from a thick short erect or ascending 

 rootstock; petioles mostly longer than the 

 blades; blades i'-3' wide, pedately 5-9- 

 parted into linear obtuse segments, the seg- 

 ments entire or lobed, ciliate along the mid- 

 vein and margins; stipules ovate-lanceolate, 

 acuminate; flowers bright blue, nearly i' 

 broad; sepals linear or lanceolate, acute or 

 obtuse; lateral petals bearded; capsules 

 5 // -6 // long, glabrous, those from cleisto- 

 gamous flowers short-peduncled. 



On prairies, Illinois to Saskatchewan, Colo- 

 rado and Arizona. March-May. 



4. Viola obliqua Hill. Meadow or 

 Hooded Blue Violet. (Fig. 2487.) 



V. obliqua Hill, Hprt. Kew. 316. pi. 12. 1769. 

 Viola, cucullata Ait. Hort. Kew. 3: 228. 1789. 



Glabrous, or with a few scattered hairs 

 when young, bright green, acaulescent. 

 Rootstock short, thick, mostly erect; flower- 

 ing scapes shorter than the leaves or much 

 exceeding them; petioles slender, becoming 

 very much longer than the blades; blades 

 thin, ovate, orbicular or reniform, rarely 

 ovate-lanceolate, acute, or acutish, 2 / -4 / 

 long, or those of the outer leaves obtuse, 

 and rounded, all crenate or crenate-dentate, 

 cordate at the base; sepals lanceolate, 

 acuminate or acute; petals 6 // -io // long, 

 blue, rarely white, sometimes striped, the 

 lower and lateral ones bearded; capsules 

 4"_6// long, those from cleistogamous 

 flowers on horizontal or deflexed peduncles. 

 In woods, meadows and marshes, Nova Scotia to Minnesota, Georgia and Kansas. Ascends to 



5000 ft. in Virginia. Bog-meadow forms have flowering scapes much longer than the leaves; 



some swampy woodland forms have almost lanceolate blades, twice as long as wide. April-June. 



5. Viola villosa Walt. Southern Wood Violet. 



Viola villosa Walt. Fl. Car. 219. 1788. 



Dark green, finely pubescent with appressed 

 hairs, but not villous; rootstock short, thick, 

 mostly oblique. Flowering scapes commonly 

 longer than the leaves; leaves usually ap- 

 pressed to the ground and purple beneath, of- 

 ten mottled; petioles equalling the blades or 

 longer; blades broadly ovate, suborbicular, or 

 reniform, obtuse or some of them acute at the 

 apex, crenate-dentate, none lobed, deeply cor- 

 date at the base, i^ / -2^ / wide when mature; 

 sepals lanceolate or linear-lanceolate, obtuse 

 orobtusish; petals blue, mostly bearded, 5 // ~7 // 

 long; spur about 2" long, very blunt; capsules 

 3 // -4 // long, those of the cleistogamous flowers 

 on spreading or deflexed peduncles. 



In dry soil, on hillsides and in woods, Pennsyl- 

 vania and New Jersey to Georgia and Louisiana. 

 April-May. 



(Fig. 2488.) 



