whose heart-shaped leaves frequently show a tendency to divide
into lobes. But the early blue violet, however roundish or
heart-shaped its early leaves may be, has the later ones
variously divided into from three to thirteen lobes, often almost
as much cut on the sides as the leaves of the bird's-foot violet.
In dry soil, chiefly in the woods, this violet may be found from
Southern Canada westward to Minnesota, and south to northern
boundaries of the Gulf States. Only its side petals are bearded
to form footrests for the insects that search for the deeply
secreted nectar. Many butterflies visit this flower. On entering
it a bee must first touch the stigma before any fresh golden
pollen is released from the anther cone, and cross-fertilization
naturally results.

In shale and sandy soil, even in the gravel of hillsides, one
finds the narrowly divided, finely cut leaves and the bicolored
beardless blossom of the BIRD'S-FOOT VIOLET (V. pedata), pale
bluish purple on the lower petals, dark purple on one or two
upper ones, and with a heart of gold. The large, velvety,
pansy-like blossom and the unusual foliage which rises in rather
dense tufts are sufficient to distinguish the plant from its
numerous kin. This species produces no cleistogamous or blind
flowers. Frequently the bird's-foot violet blooms a second time,
in autumn, a delightful eccentricity of this family. The spur of
its lower petal is long and very slender, and, as might be
expected, the longest-tongued bees and butterflies are its most
frequent visitors. These receive the pollen on the base of the
proboscis.

The WOOLLY BLUE VIOLET (V. sororia), whose stems and younger