[Illustration: MISSOURI VIOLET LANCE-LEAVED VIOLET]
Small or leafy stipules on leaves; sepals 5; petals 5, the lower usually
larger and spurred; flowers often cleistogamous; fruit usually a
capsule.
Missouri Violet (_Viola missouriensis_) grows in low grounds and moist
woods from Missouri to Louisiana and Texas, the flowers blooming in
Texas in March and April. They are very much like the common cultivated
violet (_Viola odorata_) introduced from Europe.
Water or Lance-Leaved Violet (_Viola lanceolata_) is a small violet
found in swampy places in East Texas and north to Nova Scotia. It
resembles the white violet, _Viola vittata_, so abundant on the Coastal
Plain, which has narrower leaves and is taller.
About twenty different violets have been reported from the state, mostly
from the eastern part. The bird’s-foot violet (_Viola pedata_) comes
into East Texas. It has large flowers, 1-1¾ in. across, the 3 lower
petals much lighter than the dark purple upper ones. It resembles the
cultivated pansy, which, however, has been derived from _Viola tricolor_
of Great Britain. The native violets bloom from February to May.