Viola missouriensis

JANAS 33(1), Jepson 1993

Duration: Perennial Nativity: Native Lifeform: Forb/Herb General: Perennial, low-growing herb, to 30 cm tall, stems not branching, herbage glabrous to slight strigose at the leaf bases, may be ciliate, herbage arising in clusters from branching rhizomes. Leaves: Mid-seasonal leaves heart-shaped to widely ovate, simple, basal, with crenate margins, tip obtuse, base cordate to truncate, leaves to 4.5 cm long, borne on petioles to 5-23 cm long. Flowers: Deep blue-violet, some cleistogamous, the lower petals 10-19 mm long, including the spur, the spur blunt, sepal auricles elongated, flowers axillary or borne on pedicels to 10 cm long. Fruits: Glabrous fruits to 11 mm long. Seeds ovoid, many, with a prominent caruncle. Ecology: Found in wet or damp soils along streams and on shady hillsides in coniferous forests, from 4,000-9,500 ft (1219-2896 m); flowering March-July. Notes: Determine this species by its deep purple flowers, the lower petals with a blunt spur, and the non-branching stems. Synonyms: Viola affinis, Viola chalcosperma, Viola langloisii, Viola langloisii var. pedatiloba, Viola missouriensis, Viola rosacea, Viola sororia subsp. affinis, Viola sororia var. affinis, Viola sororia var. missouriensis Editor: LCrumbacher, 2011

From Flora of Indiana (1940) by Charles C. Deam

In wet, hard, white, and slightly acid clay soil, either in woodland with sweet gum or in the open on sweet gum land; less frequent in wet woodland and springy places. Infrequent but often locally abundant in the southern part of the state and rare in the northern part.

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Indiana Coefficient of Conservatism: C = 3

Wetland Indicator Status: FACW