The Manual of the Botany of the Northern United States. Asa Gray
HELIÁNTHEMUM, Tourn. Rock-rose.
Petals 5, crumpled in the bud, fugacious. Styles short or none in our species; stigma 3-lobed. Capsule strictly 1-celled. Embryo curved in the form of a hook or ring.—Flowers in most N. American species of two sorts, viz., primary or earlier ones, with large petals, indefinitely numerous stamens and many-seeded pods; and secondary, or later ones, which are much smaller and in clusters, with small petals or none, 3–10 stamens, and much smaller 3–few-seeded pods. The yellow flowers open only once, in sunshine, and cast their petals by the next day. (Name from ἥλιος, the sun, and ἄνθεμον, flower.)
1. H. Canadénse, Michx. (Frost-weed.) Petal-bearing flowers solitary; the small secondary flowers clustered in the axils of the leaves, nearly sessile; calyx of the large flowers hairy-pubescent, of the small ones hoary, like the stem and lower side of the lanceolate-oblong leaves.—Sandy or gravelly dry soil, Maine to Minn. and southward. June–Aug.—Stems at first simple. Corolla of the large flowers 1´ wide, producing pods 3´´ long; pods of the smaller flowers not larger than a pin's head. A variety is more hoary, and with a stronger tendency to multiply the minute clustered flowers. Late in autumn crystals of ice shoot from the cracked bark at the root, whence the popular name.
2. H. corymbòsum, Michx. Flowers all clustered at the summit of the stem or branches, the petal-bearing ones at length on slender stalks; calyx woolly.—Pine barrens, N. J. and southward along the coast.
2. HUDSÒNIA, L.
Petals 5, fugacious (lasting but a day), much larger than the calyx. Stamens 9–30. Style long and slender; stigma minute. Pod oblong, enclosed in the calyx, strictly 1-celled, with 1 or 2 seeds attached near the base of each nerve-like placenta. Embryo coiled into the form of a closed hook.—Bushy heath-like little shrubs (seldom a foot high), covered all over with the small awl-shaped or scale-like alternate persistent downy leaves, producing numerous (small but showy) bright yellow flowers crowded along the upper part of the branches. (Named in honor of Wm. Hudson, an early English botanist.)
1. H. ericoìdes, L. Downy but greenish; leaves slender, awl-shaped, loose; flowers on slender naked stalks; ovary hairy.—Dry sandy soil near the coast, E. Maine to Va.; N. Conway, N. H. (Miss Minns.) May.
2. H. tomentòsa, Nutt. Hoary with down; leaves oval or narrowly oblong, 1´´ long, close-pressed and imbricated; flowers sessile or some short-peduncled.—Sandy shores, Maine to Md., and along the Great Lakes to Minn.; rarely on banks of streams inland. May, June.
3. LÉCHEA, Kalm. Pinweed.
Petals 3, narrow, flat in the bud, not longer than the calyx, withering-persistent. Stamens 3–12. Style scarcely any; stigmas 3, plumose. Pod globular, partly 3-celled; the 3 broad and thin placentæ borne on imperfect partitions, each bearing 2 seeds on the face toward the valve; in our species the placentæ curve backward and partly enclose the seeds. Embryo straightish.—Homely perennial herbs, with very small greenish or purplish flowers, in summer. (Named in honor of John Leche, a Swedish botanist.)
[*] Pubescence villous, spreading; leaves oblong; flowers very short-pedicelled in cymulose clusters.
1. L. màjor, Michx. Stem upright (1–2° high), stout, simple, very leafy, producing slender prostrate branches from the base; leaves elliptical, mucronate-pointed, alternate and opposite or sometimes whorled; flowers densely crowded; pedicels shorter than the very small depressed-globose pod; sepals narrower than its valves.—Sterile grounds; common, especially southward.
[*][*] Pubescence appressed, leaves narrower; flowers paniculate.
[+] Leaves comparatively short, broad, and thin; panicles leafy.
2. L. thymifòlia, Michx. Erect, about 2° high; stem-leaves oval or oblong (3–6´´ long), commonly somewhat hairy, some whorled or opposite, those of the rather crowded panicles more linear; pod obovate-globose, one of the narrow outer sepals often longer. (L. Novæ-Cæsareæ, Austin.)—Dry grounds near the coast, E. Mass. to Fla.
[+][+] Leaves firmer, narrow, the cauline linear to slender-subulate; panicles more naked and racemiform.
[++] Fruiting calyx globular or broadly ovoid; pod rather large, nearly globose.
3. L. mìnor, L. Rather strict, 1° high or more, usually glabrate in age; leaves of radical shoots lanceolate, rigid, 2–3´´ long, the cauline linear, 6–9´´ long; pod about 1´´ high.—Dry and sterile ground; common.
Var. marítima, Gray in herb. Stouter and more rigid, leaves of radical shoots thicker, linear, hoary, the cauline puberulent or glabrous, calyx canescent. (L. thymifolia, Pursh.; L. maritima, Leggett.)—Sandy soil near the coast, Mass. to Ga.
4. L. tenuifòlia, Michx. Low, slender and diffuse, minutely pubescent or glabrous; leaves all small and very narrow; flowers mostly on very short pedicels, diffusely racemose-paniculate; sepals without lateral ribs; pod ovoid-globose.—Dry, sterile soil, E. Mass. to Mo., and southward.
[++][++] Smaller-flowered; fruiting calyx narrower; pod ellipsoidal.
5. L. racemulòsa, Lam. Erect, soft-pubescent when young, soon nearly glabrous; leaves of radical shoots narrowly oblong, the cauline oblong-linear, 4–6´´ long; inflorescence loose and diffuse; fruiting calyx glabrous.—Dry and rocky soil, Long Island to Ky., and southward.
Order 14. VIOLÀCEÆ. (Violet Family.)
Herbs, with a somewhat irregular 1-spurred corolla of 5 petals, 5 hypogynous stamens with adnate introrse anthers conniving over the pistil, and a 1-celled 3-valved pod with 3 parietal placentæ.—Sepals 5, persistent. Petals imbricated in the bud. Stamens with their short and broad filaments continued beyond the anther-cells, and often coherent with each other. Style usually club-shaped, with the simple stigma turned to one side. Valves of the capsule bearing the several-seeded placentæ on their middle; after opening, each valve as it dries folds together lengthwise firmly, projecting the seeds. Seeds anatropous, rather large, with a hard seed-coat, and a large and straight embryo nearly as long as the albumen; cotyledons flat.—Leaves alternate, with stipules. Flowers axillary, nodding. (Roots slightly acrid or emetic.)
1. Viola. Sepals auricled. Lower petal spurred. Stamens distinct, the 2 lower spurred.
2. Solea. Sepals not auricled. Petals equal in length. Stamens united into a sheath.
3. Ionidium. Sepals not auricled. Petals very unequal. Filaments distinct, the anthers merely connivent.
1. VÌOLA, Tourn. Violet. Heart's-ease.
Sepals extended into ears at the base. Petals somewhat unequal, the lower one spurred at the base. Stamens closely surrounding the ovary, often slightly cohering with each other; the two lower bearing spurs which project into the spur of the corolla. Besides these conspicuous blossoms, which appear in spring, others are produced later (especially in the stemless species), on shorter peduncles or on runners, usually concealed under the leaves; these never open nor develop petals, but are fertilized in the bud, and are far more fruitful than the ordinary blossoms. (The ancient Latin name of the genus.)
§ 1. Perennials; stipules never leaf-like, the lower more or less scarious.
[*] Stemless, the leaves and scapes directly from a rootstock or from runners.
[+] Stigma large, naked, not beaked; stolons none; rootstock short and thick.
1. V. pedàta, L. (Bird-foot V.) Nearly smooth; rootstock erect, not scaly; leaves all 3–5-divided, or the earliest only parted, the lateral divisions 2–3-parted, all linear or narrowly spatulate, sometimes 2–3-toothed or cut at the apex; flower large, 1´ broad, pale or deep lilac-purple or blue.—Sandy or gravelly soil, New Eng. to Minn., and southward.—Var. bícolor, Pursh, a very