Viola hirsutula Brainerd. Section: Nosphinium. Subsection: Borealiamericanae. Wood Violet, Southern Woodland Violet. Phen: Chasmogamous flower Feb-May; chasmogamous fruit May; cleistogamous fruit May-Aug. Hab: Bottomlands, moist slopes, dry forests and clearings. Dist: CT, NY, PA, OH, and s. IN, south to Panhandle FL, AL, and MS.

ID notes:This species is distinctive in its spreading to prostrate leaves, the upper surface bicolorous (‘‘variegated’’) with the silvery-green leaf blade divided by deep green or red-purple veins and beset with erect hispid hairs. The lower leaf surface is often purple. On the basis of the relatively short broad variegated leaves alone, it could be misidentified as V. walteri (which is mat-forming by node-rooting stolons) or the acaulescent southern V. villosa, but the foliage and peduncle are glabrous except for the small hispid hairs on the upper leaf blade surface.

Origin/Endemic status: Native

Synonymy: = F, FNA6, G, K1, K3, K4, NE, Pa, RAB, S, S13, Tat, Tn, Va, W, WV, Ballard () (in prep), Ballard, Kartesz, & Nishino (2023), Haines (2001), McKinney & Russell (2002); < Viola sororia Willd. – Fl2; < Viola villosa Walter – C

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Wetland Indicator Status:

• Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plain: FACU
• Eastern Mountains and Piedmont: FACU
• Midwest: FACU
• Northcentral & Northeast: FACU

Heliophily: 5