Delicate, glabrous plants from a long, slender rhizome, also stoloniferous; lvs thin, 2.5-3.5 cm wide, orbicular to reniform, crenulate, cordate or subcordate at base, the basal sinus wider than in no. 11 [Viola selkirkii Pursh]; fls 1.5 cm wide; pet pale lilac or lavender (or nearly white) with purple veins, the lateral ones sparsely bearded, the spur 2 mm; style dilated upwards in a vertical plane, with a conic beak on the lower side, the stigma within the tip of the beak, as in the next 6 spp.; frs 5-6 mm, green, ellipsoid; seeds buff; 2n=24, 48. Wet or moist places; circumboreal, in Amer. from Lab. to Alas., s. to the alpine regions of Me. and N.H., Manitou Isl., Mich., and in the West to Colo. and Calif. June-Aug. (V. epipsila, the diploid, including the Michigan plants)
Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.
