STUDIES OF PLANT LIFE 
at least till late in the season. It is found on open sunny 
banks and dry grassy hill-sides.t Yet another variety is often 
found by the sides of springs and rivers, forming spreading 
tufts among the grass with its smooth-pointed leaves and 
pale, delicate flowers.{ 
The prettiest of all our blue Violets is the 
ARROwW-LEAVED VioLet—Viola sagittata (Ait.). 
It is found in low, sandy, shady valleys or very light 
loamy soil. The leaves of this species are not always arrow 
or heart-shaped, but in some cases are long and narrow, 
blunt at the apex, decurrent on the short leaf-stalk, notched 
at the edges, and rather roughened and dulled in color by 
the short silvery hairs on the surface. The flowers rise 
singly from the crown of the plant; color, a bright royal 
blue, a little white at the base of the petals, which are 
bearded with soft silky wool; anthers, a bright orange 
color, and forming a tiny cone from the meeting of the 
tips. The flowers, six or eight in number, fall back from 
the centre and lie prostrate on the closely horizontal leaves. 
The unopened buds are sharply folded with bright green 
sepals, and are of a deep bluish-purple. Another form, 
sometimes called Viola ovata, very nearly resembles the’ 
above, but the leaves are less hairy and the color is more 
purple in the tint. 
THE PENCILLED VIOLET—Viola renifolia (Gray). 
bears its white blossoms on rather long slender foot-stalks, 
and these are slightly larger than those of the above. It is 
milky-white, with dark veinings. The leaves, although 
+Viola subviscosa, Greene. 
{Viola prionosepala, Greene. 
