1900 | BRIEFER ARTICLES 143 
A NEW VIOLET. 
Viola erectifolia.— Stems short, 2—-3™ long, from a single vertical 
tap-root: leaves elliptic to narrowly oblong or oblanceolate, entire or 
obscurely repand-crenate, sparsely pubescent on the veins and margins 
or glabrate, 3-8 long; petioles pubescent, longer than the blades: 
peduncles about 8” long, slightly surpassed by the leaves: -sepals 
linear, 7™" long : petals yellow, more or less tinged and streaked with 
purple, 12™ long; the laterals with a small tuft of short stiff hairs 
below the middle: appendages of the anthers red and broadly ovate. 
This is undoubtedly the V. Muttallii of Tweedy’s Flora of Yellow- 
stone Park, and possibly also, in part, of Hooker’s Vora, but it certainly 
is not V. Wutfallii Pursh, Fl. 1: 174. The latter is a plant of the 
sandy plains of the Missouri and its tributaries, while the one now 
named is of the open woods in subalpine stations. The two can never 
be confused in the field, for V. Wutfallii has a prostrate spreading habit 
and several to many semifleshy roots, while the other holds its leaves 
and peduncles strikingly erect and all arise from a very characteristic, 
single, vertical root. Were it not for the differences in root characters, 
one might think that Hooker’s figure, Fl. Bor. Am. 1: pl. 26, was 
drawn from specimens of V. erectifolia. In fact it seems possible that 
Dr. Richardson’s specimen, cited by Hooker, may be this species. 
This species seems to be abundant in the mountains of Yellowstone 
Park and the adjacent ranges to the west. Type specimens from 
Henry’s Lake, Idaho, June 22, 1899, no. 5481.— AVEN NELSON, Uni- 
versity of Wyoming, Laramie. 
