Taxonomy
Family: Violaceae
Habitat
Moist sandy soils or mucks. Sandy peat flats. Wet loamy sand.
Associates
Distribution
ME and New Brunswick south to FL, west to western Ontario, MN, eastern OK and eastern TX.
Morphology
Herbaceous perennial from slender, creeping rhizomes; in summer producing stolons in addition to cleistogamous flowers on erect peduncles. Leaves all basal, glabrous or somewhat hairy, narrow, mostly more than 3 times as long as wide, taping to the base, crenulate to serrate. Flowers ; petals white, beardless, the 3 lower with brown-purple veins near the base. Fruit green, ellipsoid, 5-8 mm.
Notes
Flowers mid April to late June
Wetland indicator: Obligate
Often found along streams and ponds where there is sandy soil.
References
Gleason, Henry A. and A. Cronquist. 1991. Manual of Vascular Plants of Northeastern United States and Adjacent Canada. Second Ed.
The New York Botanical Garden. Bronx, NY
Swink, F. and G. Wilhelm. 1994. Plants of the Chicago Region.
Indiana Academy of Science. The Morton Arboretum. Lisle, Illinois.
Michael Hough © 2005 |