VIOLACEAE 



VIOLET FAMILY 



HAIRY BLUE VIOLET 



I'iola sororia Willd. 



By act of the state legislature in 1908 the Violet was 

 made the official state flower of Illinois. No particular 

 species was designated but it is commonly assumed that 

 the lawmakers had in mind 

 the common Blue Violets, of 

 which there are several spe- 

 cies in the state. 



Blue Violets should never 

 be picked except in places 

 where they are very abun- 

 dant; but where there are 

 hundreds of plants and liter- 

 ally thousands of blossoms 

 it does no harm to pick them 

 provided only the flowers are 

 taken and roots and leaves 

 are not disturbed. 



Often the beautiful blue 

 flowers that we so admire 

 produce no seeds. Late in the 

 season small flowers without 

 petals aie produced on short 

 peduncles. These never open 

 but are self-pollinated and 

 produce seeds abundantly. 



The Hairy Blue Violet is found in moist meadows and woods 

 and by shady ledges from western Quebec and New England to 

 Minnesota, south to North Carolina and Oklahoma. The lower 

 surfaces of the leaves and usually the petioles are covered with 

 very short hairs. 



It blooms in April and May and sometimes again in autumn. 

 The peduncles are often 6 inches or more in length and the 

 flowers shade through deep violet to lavender or lighter. The 

 fruit is a many-seeded capsule. 



The Common Blue Violet, I'iola papilionacea Pursh, is very 

 similar but the leaves are smooth beneath. Occasionally the tiowers, 

 as in the above species, may he white. {See frontispiece.) 



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