Kansas Wildflowers and Grasses - Nuttall's yellow violet

NUTTALL'S YELLOW VIOLET

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Viola nuttallii Pursh

Craig Freeman photo

Perennial

Height: .8-4.8(-8) inches

Family: Violaceae – Violet Family

Flowering Period: April, May

Also Called:

Yellow prairie violet.

Stems:

Ascending to erect, glabrous or puberulent.

Leaves:

Basal and cauline, alternate; stipules lanceolate to oblong or elliptic, .12 to .6 inch, margins entire to serrate distally; petiole to 2.4 inches, sparsely to densely puberulent; blade lanceolate to ovate or elliptic, 3.5-4.5 times as long as wide, .8 to 2.4 inches long, .2 to 1 inch wide, base cuneate to attenuate, margins entire to sinuate or remotely crenate-dentate, apex acute, surfaces sparsely to densely puberulent.

Inflorescences:

Basal or axillary, flowers solitary; peduncles reflexed apically; bracts 2, medial.

Flowers:

Chasmogamous flowers .4 to .6 inch; sepals 5, distinct, lanceolate, .16 to .28 inch, margins glabrous or ciliolate proximally, apex acute; petals 5, distinct, yellow, unequal, abaxial 3 usually with purple veins, lateral 2 bearded, spurred one broadly oblanceolate, beardless; stamens 5, included in corolla throat; filaments distinct; style slender; pistil 1; style 1. Cleistogamous flowers on short peduncles in distal axils.

Fruits:

Capsules, tan, .24 to .35 inch, glabrous or puberulent. Seeds brown, .11 to .12 inch.

Habitat:

Rocky, calcareous, mixed-grass and shortgrass prairies.

Distribution:

West half of Kansas

Origin:

Native

Comments:

Viola, classical name for violet, and nuttallii, for botanist and naturalist Thomas Nuttall.

Nuttall's yellow violet habit