Three small-flowered, white, purple-veined, and almost beardless species
which prefer to dwell in moist meadows, damp, mossy places, and along
the borders of streams, are the Lance-leaved Violet _(V. lanceolata)_,
the Primrose-leaved Violet _(V. primulifolia)_, and the Sweet White
Violet _(V. blanda)_, whose leaves show successive gradations from the
narrow, tapering, smooth, long-petioled blades of the first to the oval
form of the second and the almost circular, cordate leaf of the
delicately fragrant, little white _blanda_, the dearest violet of all.
Inasmuch as these are short-spurred species, requiring no effort for
bees to drain their nectaries, no footholds in the form of beards on
the side petals are provided for them. The purple veinings show the
stupidest visitor the path to the sweets.