Viola. violacej;. 55 



flat. — Flowers perfect. Sepals (persistent) and petals imbricated in the bud, hypo- 

 gynous. Capsule 3-valved ; the valves bearing the seeds along their middle ; each, 

 after dehiscence, in drying firmly folds together lengthwise, and by its increasing 

 pressure Drojects the obovate seeds. — Represented only by the familiar genus 



1. VIOLA, Linn. Violet. 



Sepals unequal, more or less auricled at base. Petals unequal, the lower spurred 



at base. Anthers broad, nearly sessile, often coherent, the connectives of the two 



lower bearing spurs which project into the spur of the petal. — Mostly perennial 



herbs ; with alternate leaves, foliaceous persistent stipules, and 1-fiowered axillary 



peduncles. Flowers usually dimorphous ; the earlier ones perfect and conspicuous, 



but often sterile ; the later (near the ground in the stemless species) with small 



and rudimentary petals, fertilized in the bud and producing numerous seeds. 



A large genus of 100 species or more, largely belonging to the temperate regions of the northern 

 hemisphere, but 30 species are found in the mountains of S. America, and a very few occur in S. 

 Africa, Australia, and New Zealand. The Xorth American species number about 30, half of 

 which belong to the western side of the continent. Many of them are very variable and their 

 limits not easily defined. Some of the foreign species are favorites everywhere for their fragrance 

 or beauty. The Californian are as a whole very showy, but generally not sweet-scented. Some," 

 however, have a peculiar and rather agreeable fragrance, very unlike the typical "odor of 

 violets." 



* Stemless, the leaves and scapes all from a subterranean rootstoch : leaves not lobed 



nor parted : flowers white or purple. 



1. V. blanda, TVilld. Rootstock creeping and at length producing runners : 

 leaves rounded-cordate or reniform, J to 2 inches in diameter, minutely and spar- 

 ingly pubescent or glabrous, obscurely crenate-toothed : peduncles 2 to 4 inches 

 high : flowers white, the lower petals veined with purple, nearly beardless, usually 

 3 or 4 lines long; spur short and blunt. 



Wi r places in the Sierra Xevada, at 6,000 to 9,000 feet altitude, rather rare : common east- 

 ward to the Atlantic. 



V. PAXUSTRI8, Linn., very similar, but with pale lilac flowers, does not certainly occur in Cali- 

 fornia. It is found from the British boundary northward, on Jit. Washington in New Hamp- 

 shire, and perhaps also in the Rocky Mountains. 



2. V. cucullata, Ait. R<>i>tst.ick thick and branching, not producing runners : 

 leaves long-petioled, smooth or more or less pubescent, cordate with a broad sinus, 

 the lowest often reniform and the later acute or acuminate, crenately toothed, the 

 sides rolled inward when young: peduncles 3 to 10 inches high: Bowers deep or 



riolei or purple (sometimes white); petals 5 to 8 lines long, the lateral and 

 often the lower ones bearded ; spur shorJ and thick. 



Cucamonga, San Bernardino Co. (Bigelow) ; above Carson City and in Sierra Co. (Anderson, 

 Lemmon) ; and more common northward and eastward to the Atlantic States, where it is the 

 most common of all the species, and very variable. 



V. ODORATA, Linn., the well-known Sweet or English Violet, has been collected "among the 

 redwoods " (Holder), doubtless escaped from cultivation. 



* » Leafy stems at length elongated, from short or running rootstoch: spur very 



short, except in tit- jirnt .yuries. 



+- Stems leafy throughout, erect or ascending : leaves all undivided. 



+ +• Flow, rs purple, or not bright yellow. 



3. V. canina, Linn., var. adunca, Gray. Puberulent or marly glabrous, low 



(usually 3 to 4 inches high), at length sending out runners: leaves ovate, often 



