FAMILIAR FEATURES OF THE ROADSIDE, 



mature seed at tlie base), too late to receive tlie pollen 

 from the earlier developed anther ! My drawing will 

 show the immature pistil with its " closed doors " at 

 the time the anthers which bear the pollen are ripe, 

 and also the mature split-topped pistil whose open 

 portals are pretty sure to 

 scrape the pollen from the 

 visiting bumhlebee's back. 

 The spring beauty is not a 

 self-fertilized plant ; Nature 

 has so arranged matters that 

 the bee shall bring the rip- 

 ened pollen frorn one flower 

 to the ripened pistil of an- 

 other. 



Among the earliest of the 

 violets are the yellow ones. 

 The round-leaved violet ( Viola rotimdifolia) is per- 

 haps the earliest of all, as its tiny blossoms appear 

 in Pennsylvania soon after the snow has gone. This 

 violet grows on the woodland border, and we will 

 find it hugging the damp rich mold, with its round- 

 ish leaves flat upon the ground ; in midsunmier 

 these leaves are fully two inches in diameter. The 

 flower is pale yellow marked with madder-brown 

 veins. The downy yellow violet ( Viola piiieseens) 

 grows about ten inches high ; the tiny yellow blos- 



Pistil of Spring- Beauty : 

 immature ; B, mature. 



