Taxonomy
Family: Violaceae
Habitat
Moist rich humus and on rotting logs in cool, shaded, calcareous woods at the foot of slopes, often under hemlocks.
Associates
Distribution
Newfoundland west to British Columbia, south to MA, CT, NY, MI, MN, SD, and CO.
Morphology
Acaulescent perennial from a slender rhizome, stolons not produced. Leaf blades unlobed, ovate or rarely orbiculate, cordate at the base, margins crenate to crenulate or serrate, eciliate, rounded to acute at the apex, strigose on the upper surface. Sepals lanceolate to ovate-lanceolate, auricles 1-2 mm; petals all beardless, pale violet, the lower three dark-purple veined at the base, spur petal 8-13 mm, spur pale to deep violet, elongate, 4-7 mm; capsule ovoid to ellipsoid, 4-8 mm, glabrous; seeds brown, 1-2 mm.
Notes
Flowers mid April to mid May
Wetland indicator: NA
The large, round-tipped spur and beardless petals help separate this species from other blue ascaulescent violets.
References
Haines, A. 2011.
Flora Novae Angliae: a manual for the identification of native and naturalized
higher vascular plants of New England. Yale University Press, New Haven, CT.
Little, R.J. and
L.E. McKinney. 2015. Viola. In: Flora of North America North of
Mexico, Vol. 6. Oxford University Press, New York and Oxford.
USDA, NRCS. 2002. The PLANTS Database, Version 3.5 (http://plants.usda.gov).
National Plant Data Center, Baton Rouge, LA 70874-4490 USA.
Michael Hough © 2017 |