[+][+] 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.