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From the three-cornered stars of the elastic
capsules, the seeds are scattered abroad.
Beards on the spurred lower petal and the two side petals give
the bees a foothold when they turn head downward, as some must,
to suck nectar. This attitude enables them to receive the pollen
dusted on their abdomens, when they jar the flower, at a point
nearest their pollen-collecting hairs. It is also an economical
advantage to the flower which can sift the pollen downward on the
bee instead of exposing it to the pollen-eating interlopers.
Among the latter may be classed the bumblebees and butterflies
whose long lips and tongues pilfer ad libitum. "For the proper
visitors of the bearded violets," says Professor Robertson, "we
must look to the small bees, among which the Osmias are the most
important."
When science was younger and hair splitting an uncommon
indulgence of botanists, the EARLY BLUE VIOLET (Viola palmata)
was thought to be simply a variety of the common purple violet,
whose heart-shaped leaves frequently show a tendency to divide
into lobes.


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