Early Blue Violet

Appearance

Prairie violet grows 5–30 cm tall with violet flowers and between 2–11 deeply divided leaves. It is an acaulescent violet, meaning it lacks leaves on the flowering stems. The leaves have 5–9 lanceolate to linear lobes, growing up to 7 cm long and 8 cm across. Prairie violet flowers between March and June. The flowers are light violet, the lower three petals white near the base, usually with some hairs. It forms ellipsoid capsules in the summer.

Naming

Viola palmata

Distribution

''Viola pedatifida'' is native broadly across the central United States and south-central Canada, from Alberta to Ontario, south to Arkansas, west to New Mexico. It has a disjunct distribution in Virginia where it grows in Appalachian shale barrens. Across much of its range, prairie violet grows in dry prairies and other dry, sunny habitats.

Habitat

''Viola pedatifida'' is native broadly across the central United States and south-central Canada, from Alberta to Ontario, south to Arkansas, west to New Mexico. It has a disjunct distribution in Virginia where it grows in Appalachian shale barrens. Across much of its range, prairie violet grows in dry prairies and other dry, sunny habitats.