Burke: Viola odorata vs. Viola sheltonii

	Viola odorata	Viola sheltonii
	sweet blue violet	fan violet, Shelton's violet
Habit	Low, fragrant, creeping, soft-hairy perennial with stolons that root at the nodes.	Glabrous perennial from deep-seated rhizomes, the flowering stems 5-15 cm. tall.
Leaves	Leaves tufted, cordate and rounded, petiolate, enlarging in summer.	Leaf blades glaucous and somewhat purplish on the lower surface, 2-5 cm. long and broad, deeply cleft into 3 main lobes and dissected into ultimate linear segments; stipules small, membranous, comb-like.
Flowers	Flowers blue-violet or white, rarely lilac, pink or yellow; sepals blunt.	Flowers about 12 mm. long, yellow, the upper pair of petals brownish-backed, the lower three purplish-penciled, the lateral pair sparsely bearded; style head sparsely bearded.
Fruits	Fruit a 3-valved capsule, ovary superior, placentation parietal.	Fruit a 3-valved, puberulent capsule, ovary superior, placentation parietal.

	Viola odorata	Viola sheltonii
Flowering time	March-September	April-June
Habitat	Sheltered, disturbed areas in somewhat moist soil.	Coniferous forest understory, often associated with moss-covered boulder fields with well-developed organic layer.
Distribution	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]	Occurring on both sides of the Cascades crest in Washington; Washington to California, east to Idaho; also in Colorado. [WildflowerSearch map] [BONAP county map]
Origin	Introduced from Europe	Native
Conservation status	Not of concern	Not of concern
Sibling taxa	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	V. adunca, V. arvensis, 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. sororia, V. tricolor, V. trinervata, V. ×wittrockiana
Web links	Local floras: BC, CA, OR, WA Local Web sites: CalFlora, CalPhotos, Flora NW, PNW Herbaria WildflowerSearch iNaturalist (observations) USDA Plants Database LBJ Wildflower Center SEINet Plants of the World Online Encyclopedia of Life Wikipedia Google Image Search	Local floras: CA, OR, WA Local Web sites: CalFlora, CalPhotos, Flora NW, PNW Herbaria, Turner Photog. WildflowerSearch iNaturalist (observations) USDA Plants Database LBJ Wildflower Center SEINet Plants of the World Online Encyclopedia of Life Wikipedia Google Image Search

Viola odorata

Viola sheltonii

sweet blue violet

fan violet, Shelton's violet

Habit

Low, fragrant, creeping, soft-hairy perennial with stolons that root at the nodes.

Glabrous perennial from deep-seated rhizomes, the flowering stems 5-15 cm. tall.

Leaves

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

Leaf blades glaucous and somewhat purplish on the lower surface, 2-5 cm. long and broad, deeply cleft into 3 main lobes and dissected into ultimate linear segments;

stipules small, membranous, comb-like.

Flowers

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

sepals blunt.

Flowers about 12 mm. long, yellow, the upper pair of petals brownish-backed, the lower three purplish-penciled, the lateral pair sparsely bearded;

style head sparsely bearded.

Fruits

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

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