Burke: Viola sororia vs. Viola howellii

	Viola sororia	Viola howellii
	northern blue violet, northern woodland violet	Howell's violet
Habit		Sparsely pubescent perennial from scaly rhizomes, 2-10 cm. tall.
Leaves		Leaf blades cordate to reniform-cordate, with coarse, rounded teeth, the petioles of the many basal leaves 10-15 cm. long; stipules 3-10 mm. long, prominently toothed.
Flowers		Flowers 1.5-2 cm. long, the spur very prominent, saccate; sepals obtuse, auriculate at the base; petals bluish-violet to nearly white, strongly veined with purple, the lateral pair long-bearded; style sparsely bearded.
Fruits		Fruit a 3-valved capsule, ovary superior, placentation parietal, seeds light brown.

	Viola sororia	Viola howellii
Flowering time	May-July	April-May
Habitat	Dry to moist forest openings, thickets, meadows, and stream banks at middle elevations.	Moist woods and prairies at low to moderate elevations.
Distribution	Occurring east of the Cascades crest in northeastern Washington; Yukon Territory to California, east to the Rocky Mountains, northern Great Plains, Great Lakes region, and northeastern North America. [WildflowerSearch map] [BONAP county map]	Occurring west of the Cascades crest and in the Columbia River Gorge in Washington; southwestern British Columbia to California. [WildflowerSearch map] [BONAP county map]
Origin	Native	Native
Conservation status	Review Group 1 in Washington (WANHP)	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. odorata, V. orbiculata, V. palustris, V. pluviae, V. purpurea, V. renifolia, V. riviniana, V. selkirkii, V. sempervirens, V. sheltonii, V. tricolor, V. trinervata, V. ×wittrockiana	V. adunca, V. arvensis, V. canadensis, V. flettii, V. glabella, 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
Web links	Local floras: BC, OR, WA Local Web sites: 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: BC, 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 sororia

Viola howellii

northern blue violet, northern woodland violet

Howell's violet

Habit

Sparsely pubescent perennial from scaly rhizomes, 2-10 cm. tall.

Leaves

Leaf blades cordate to reniform-cordate, with coarse, rounded teeth, the petioles of the many basal leaves 10-15 cm. long;

stipules 3-10 mm. long, prominently toothed.

Flowers

Flowers 1.5-2 cm. long, the spur very prominent, saccate;

sepals obtuse, auriculate at the base;

petals bluish-violet to nearly white, strongly veined with purple, the lateral pair long-bearded;

style sparsely bearded.

Fruits

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

Viola sororia

Viola howellii

Flowering time

May-July

April-May

Habitat

Dry to moist forest openings, thickets, meadows, and stream banks at middle elevations.

Moist woods and prairies at low to moderate elevations.

Distribution

Occurring east of the Cascades crest in northeastern Washington; Yukon Territory to California, east to the Rocky Mountains, northern Great Plains, Great Lakes region, and northeastern North America.

[WildflowerSearch map]

[BONAP county map]