98 CLASS V. ORDER I. 



Syn. Hedera quinquefolia. L. 



ViTis Q0INQUEFOLIA. Lam. (5( Sm. 

 Ampelopsis quinquefolia. Mkh. 

 The common creeper is much cultivated as an ornament of 

 walls. The stems climb to a great height, supported by radi- 

 cating tendrils. Leaves in fives, petioled, smooth. Flowers in 

 branched clusters ; petals green, not united at their summit. 

 Berries of the size of peas. — Found growing wild in woods and 

 about fences. — June. 



108. IMPATIENS. 

 Impatiens noli tangere. Mich. §. Touch me not. 



Flower stalks solitary, many flowered; leaves 

 ovate ; joints of the stem swelling. L. 



Syn. Impatiens maculata. Miihl. 

 Impatiens fulva. Nutlall. ? 

 Found about brooks and in moist shades, flowering from June 

 to September. The flowers are of a tawny yellow, spotted on 

 the inside, and resembling small cups or pitchers, hanging on 

 slender footstalks. Nectary horn shaped ; petals spreading, the 

 two lower ones large. The capsule, when ripe, bursts and scat- 

 ters its seeds by an elastic power like the common balsamine 

 of the gardens, another of the genus. Height of the plant about 

 two feet; stems succulent, smooth; leaves ovale, toothed. — 

 Annual. 



109. VIOLA.* 

 Viola lanceolata. L. Spear leaved Violet. 



Stemless; root creeping; leaves lanceolate, flowers 

 white. 



* The great attention which tliis genus has received from botanists, 

 especially in this country, may be attributed to the early and almost 

 simultaneous period when most of its species are in flower, and when 

 there is less to attract botanical notice than at other seasons. Most 

 of the specifs are changeable and polymorphous, and the attention 

 which has been paid them has resulted in a multiplication of names, 

 considerably exceeding the real species. Unfortunately the charac- 



