Viola palmata Linnaeus var. triloba (Schweinitz) Gingins ex A.P. de Candolle. Section: Nosphinium. Subsection: Borealiamericanae. Northern Three-lobed Violet. Phen: Chasmogamous flower Mar-Jun; chasmogamous fruit Apr-Jul; cleistogamous fruit May-Oct. Hab: Drier to dry sandy, sandy loam in dry oak and oak-pine woods and dry to dry-mesic savannas and closed forests, on slopes and bluffs, ranging into somewhat moister substrates in forested situations, including drier microsites on stream and rivers terraces and borders of swamps. Dist: Ne. US and s. ONT southward into the s. Appalachian highlands, mostly absent from Lower Piedmont and se. Atlantic Coastal Plain, the s. limit in the Gulf States and Lower Midwest unclear.

Origin/Endemic status: Native

Taxonomy Comments: The northern variety is retained here as relatively morphologically and ecologically distinct; var. palmata and var. triloba have not been found growing in intimate local contact, and their ranges are nearly allopatric when putative hybrids of var. palmata with Viola sororia are removed from consideration.

Synonymy: = GrPl, RAB, WV, Ballard, Kartesz, & Nishino (2023); = Viola triloba Schwein. – Tat; = Viola triloba Schwein. var. triloba – F, G, K1; < Viola palmata L. var. palmata – FNA6, K4; < Viola subsinuata Greene – Pa

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Wetland Indicator Status:

• Eastern Mountains and Piedmont: FACU (taxonomic lump from wetland indicator species)
• Great Plains: FACU (taxonomic lump from wetland indicator species)
• Midwest: FACU (taxonomic lump from wetland indicator species)
• Northcentral & Northeast: FACU (taxonomic lump from wetland indicator species)

Heliophily ?: 6