long. Five sepals; 5 spreading petals rounded at tips; 10
stamens, 5 longer, 5 shorter, all anther-bearing; 1 pistil with 5
stigmatic styles. Scape: Slender, leafless, 1-flowered, 2 to 5
in, high. Leaf: Clover-like, of 3 leaflets, on long petioles from
scaly, creeping rootstock.
Preferred Habitat - Cold, damp woods.
Flowering Season - May-July.
Distribution - Nova Scotia and Manitoba, southward to North
Carolina. Also a native of Europe.
Clumps of these delicate little pinkish blossoms and abundant
leaves, cuddled close to the cold earth of northern forests,
usually conceal near the dry leaves or moss from which they
spring blind flowers that never open - cleistogamous the
botanists call them - flowers that lack petals, as if they were
immature buds; that lack odor, nectar, and entrance; yet they are
perfectly mature, self-fertilized, and abundantly fruitful.
Fifty-five genera of plants contain one or more species on which
these peculiar products are found, the pea family having more
than any other, although violets offer perhaps the most familiar
instance to most of us.
Pages:
248
249
250
251
252
253
254
255
256
257
258
259
260
261
262
263
264
265
266
267
268
269
270
271
272