VIOLACEAE (VIOLET FAMILY) 153 



Sepals 2-5. Petals 2-5. Stamens 1 or 2 times as many as sepals. 

 Ovary superior, 2-s-celled; styles 2-5. Capsule septicidal; 

 placentae central. Seeds many. 



A. Flower parts in 2's or 3's or 4's; plant glabrous, aquatic or creeping; sepals 

 obtuse, without midvein. ELATINE (p. 153) 



AA. Flower parts in 5's; plant pubescent, ascending or diffuse; sepals pointed or 

 acute, with midvein. E. — (Honor of J. P. Bergius, a Swedish botanist.) 



Bergia tezana 

 ELATINE (Waterwort) 



Leaves entire. Flowers minute. Sepals 2-4, persistent, membranous. 

 Petals white or rose-colored or purplish. Styles or stigmas 2-4. Pod 

 glabrous. — (Gk. elate = the Fir ; because some species have narrow, firlike 

 leaves.) 



A. Sepals and petals and carpels and stamens 2-3; seed nearly straight; petals rose- 

 colored or purplish. 

 B. Sepals and petals and stamens usually 3; seeds but little sculptured; leaves 

 oblanceolate. E. E. triandra 



BB, Sepals and petals and stamens usually 2; seeds distinctly sculptured; leaves 

 obovate. W. E. E. americana 



AA. ' Sepals and petals and carpels 3-4; stamens 6-8; seeds curved into a. hook or 

 partial ring; petals white; leaves obovate. E. 



E. californica (California waterwort) 



VIOLACEAE (Violet Family) 



Herbs. Leaves simple; entire to laciniate, pinna tely or pal- 

 mately veined; stipules present. Flowers perfect, mostly irregular. 

 Sepals 5. Petals s, hypogynous. Anthers connivent in a ring or 

 syngenesious. Ovary i, i-celled; placentae 3, parietal; style simple. 

 Capstile dehiscent by valves. — Only the foUovs^ing genus. 



VIOLA (Violet) 



Leaves alternate or all basal, evergreen or deciduous. Flowers solitary 

 or rarely 2 together, long-peduncled. Lower petal large, spurred or saccate. 

 Stamens 5. — (The Latin name.) 



A. Leaves cleft or more deeply separated into lobes or divisions; stem present; petals 

 yellow, the upper one brownish or purplish. 

 B. Leaves once lobed or dissected into 5-9 lobes or teeth; with creeping rhizomes. 

 U. V. lobata 



BB. Leaves 2-3 times dissected or lobed; lobes usually more than 9; without 

 creeping rhizomes. 

 C. Petals beardless, yellow or the upper one brownish. 

 D. Leaves short-pubescent, ternately divided into 3 segmented lobes. U. 



V. chrysantba 

 DP- Leaves glabrous, pinnately divided into 5 or more segmented lobes. tJ. C. 



V. sheltoni 



