Viola. VIOLACK.E 105 



catvly infolding, the gradually iiKTc-asing pres.-u,.: ,.t ,. n-i.i ju-.j.-, inr- liu- hard- 

 coated seeds. ({.)urs all have decidedly irregular flowers : Sauvayesiucea: we 

 exclude.) 



# Sepals pro.lucoti at ba.se beyond the iusertion into auricles. 



1. VIOLA. Lower petal produced at ba.se into a nectariferous .spur or deep sac; tin- others 

 of about e(|ual length. Filainent.s very .short or uone antliers connivuiit but disiimt, at 

 most liglitly eolierent, the two anterior eaili with a (b)r«al apjjendage or spur jjrojecting into 

 the sac or spur of the lower petal. Stylo often tie.xuou.s below, enlarged ujjward ; stigma 

 various. Cap.snlp ovoif4, crustaceoua or coriact'ous : valves several-s(!eilod. Se<'<ls olmvoid 

 or globular, smooth. Scape or peduiyle 1 -flowered, 2-bracteolate. Also some cloisUfga- 

 nious flowers, more fertile than the normal. 



* * Sepals not auriculate or ap])endaged at ba.se : caj)sule, seeds, &c. nearly of IVo/a ; stylo 

 a? in most Violets elulv-shaped, the apex abruptly antrorse and U-ak-like, tijiped with the 

 small stigma. 



2. SOLEA. Sepals linear and equal. Petals nearly equal in length, connivent almost to 

 tip, lower one much larger, saccate at base, emarginate at tiio broad ajic.x. Stamens with 

 extremely short filaments and broad connectives wholly connate into an ovoid .sac, open only 

 between the free tips, a rounded or 2-lobed scale-like gland adnata to the base anteriorly. 



3. lONIDIUM. Sepals somewhat ecjual, or the posterior smaller. Petals very unequal ; two 

 upper shorter ; lower longest and largest, concave or slightly saccate at base, contracted in 

 the middle. Stamens with distinct filaments or hardly any, the two anterior with a scale- 

 like gland or sometimes a spur at ba.se; the connective liroad and merely connivent. 



1. ViOLA, Toiirn. Violet. (Clas.sical Latin name, digammated form of 

 the Greek lov.) — Widely diffused genu.s, chiefly of low herbs, mostly of temper- 

 ate regions and the northern hemisphere ; flowering in spring and early suuinier 

 (but autumnal flowers of the conspicuous sort by no means infrequent), most of 

 our species inodorous or faintly sweet-scented. Cleistogamous flowers, of greater 

 fertility, produced by most species after the normal flowering. Leaves involute 

 in the bud, in several caulescent species puncticulate with brownish dots at 

 maturity. — Inst. 411), t. 236; L. Gen. no. 079; Gray, Gen. 111. i. 18.'), t. 80. 



§ 1. Perennials: stipules never emulating the blade of the leaf; radical or 

 lower ones more or less scarious : two upper petals turned backward and lateral 

 ones forward toward the lower or merely spreading. 



♦ Strictly acaulescent ; the (dissected) leaves and scapes all directly from a thick and short 

 erect and proliferous branched fleshy caudex, not at all stolonifcmus : corolla sjiccato- 

 spurred, beardless, not yellow: gibbous-clav.ate style bearing a rather large antrorse- 

 terminal beakless .stigma and beardless. 



V. pedata, I-. Tuberous caudex often an inch wide and not longer: glabrous or mosrlv 

 so; haves i>r(Iately 9-12-parted, or 3-divided and the lateral divisions .■J-4-paricd, the lol»os. 

 &c., from linear to spatulate, some 2-.3-dent.ate at apex : petals half to three fourths inch 

 long, spatulate-obovate, light violet, or deeper, occasionally variegated, or a.s in all thejio 

 species varying to white, olwcurely or not at all line:itp toward ba.se. — Spec. ii. D.'l.T ; Curtis, 

 Hot. Mag. t. 89; Audr. Rot. R.-p'. t. 1.5.3; Sweet, Brit. Kl. (^.ard. t. CO; Torr. & IJray. Fl. i. 

 136; Meehan, Native Flowers, ser. 1, i. t. 26. -^ Sandy .soil. New Fngland near the coxst t*.. 

 W. Florida, W. Louisiana, Indian Territory, and nt»rtlnvest to Minnesota. 



Var. bicolor, Pirsh. Two u])i>er petals dark violet.|)urple .as if velvety, in the 

 manner of Pansy. — Pursh,7/f/»' Kaf. in DC. Pn«dr. i. '."Jl ; ("Iray, Man. p<I. ."i, 79. V. ftdnia, 

 var. (itrupuriiiifr,,, IK'. Prodr. i. 2!»1. V. ^finMli/nli,,, I.odd. Hot. Tab. t 777. pale lateral 

 ]»etals spreading. I', pedata, var. ftaUllnta, Don in Sweet, Hril. Fl. (Jani. s<t. 2, t. 247, 

 figured and lie.scribed as having lateral petals rccurvcd-.ascending with the two np|)or ! — 

 Sparingly with the type in the Eastern .States, but abund.ant on hhales in .MaryLind ami 

 District of Columbia. 



