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European field pansy

sweet blue violet

Habit Puberulent, freely-branched annual, 1-3 dm. tall. Low, fragrant, creeping, soft-hairy perennial with stolons that root at the nodes.
Leaves

Leaf blades ovate to lanceolate, coarsely round-toothed, 1-3 cm. long, about equaling the petioles;

stipules very large, laciniate into 5-9 segments, usually with one leaf-like segment nearly as large as the main blade.

Leaves tufted, cordate and rounded, petiolate, enlarging in summer.

Flowers

Flowers long-pedunculate, solitary in the leaf axils, whitish or light yellow with a tinge of blue, the spur short;

sepals lanceolate, about as long as the petals;

style head copiously short-hairy.

Flowers blue-violet or white, rarely lilac, pink or yellow;

sepals blunt.

Fruits

Fruit a 3-valved capsule, ovary superior, placentation parieta

Fruit a 3-valved capsule, ovary superior, placentation parietal.

Viola arvensis

Viola odorata

Flowering time March-June March-September
Habitat Fields, roadsides, wastelots, and other disturbed areas where escaping from cultivation. Sheltered, disturbed areas in somewhat moist soil.
Distribution
Occurring chiefly west of the Cascades crest in Washington; British Columbia to California, east across most of North America to the Atlantic Coast.
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Occurring on both sides of the Cascades crest in Washington; British Columbia to California, east to Idaho; also in eastern North America.
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Origin Introduced from Europe Introduced from Europe
Conservation status Not of concern Not of concern
Sibling taxa
V. adunca, V. canadensis, V. flettii, V. glabella, V. howellii, V. lanceolata, V. langsdorffii, V. macloskeyi, V. nephrophylla, V. nuttallii, V. odorata, V. orbiculata, V. palustris, V. pluviae, V. purpurea, V. renifolia, V. riviniana, V. selkirkii, V. sempervirens, V. sheltonii, V. sororia, V. tricolor, V. trinervata, V. ×wittrockiana
V. adunca, V. arvensis, V. canadensis, V. flettii, V. glabella, V. howellii, V. lanceolata, V. langsdorffii, V. macloskeyi, V. nephrophylla, V. nuttallii, V. orbiculata, V. palustris, V. pluviae, V. purpurea, V. renifolia, V. riviniana, V. selkirkii, V. sempervirens, V. sheltonii, V. sororia, V. tricolor, V. trinervata, V. ×wittrockiana
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