Viola lanceolata Linnaeus. Section: Plagiostigma. Subsection: Stolonosae. Common name: Lanceleaf Violet, Northern Water Violet. Phenology: Chasmogamous flower Mar-Jun; chasmogamous fruit Jun-Jul; cleistogamous fruit Jul-Nov. Habitat: Bogs, seepage slopes, pitcher plant seepage bogs, streamheads and their margins, small swamp forests, depression ponds, interdune swales and ponds, other wet habitats. Distribution: NB west to MN, south to Panhandle FL and e. TX.
ID notes: This species is so distinctive that it could only be confused with a few long-leaved species in subsect. Stolonosae. It differs from V. primulifolia in its leaf blades cuneate at base, and from V. vittata in glabrous (rarely sparsely hirtellous) foliage, leafy summer stolons with cleistogamous capsules, proportionally shorter and broader leaf blades with an abruptly tapering leaf blade base, and ascending or incurved leaf teeth (making the margins apparently flush or shallowly crenate).
Origin/Endemic status: Native
Taxonomy Comments: Taxonomists have generally subsumed V. vittata Greene under this taxon as a subspecies or variety, but preliminary study has confirmed their morphological, ecological and geographic distinctions; V. vittata is maintained as a separate species here.
Synonymy ⓘ: = G, S, S13, Tat, WV, Ballard, Kartesz, & Nishino (2023); = Viola lanceolata L. ssp. lanceolata – GW2, Il, K1, K3, K4, NE, Tx; = Viola lanceolata L. var. lanceolata – C, F, Pa, Va, Ballard () (in prep), Haines (2001); < Viola lanceolata L. – Ar, Fl2, FNA6, RAB, Tn, W, WH3, McKinney & Russell (2002)
Links to other floras: < Viola lanceolata - FNA6
Wetland Indicator Status:
- Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plain: OBL (taxonomic split from wetland indicator species)
- Eastern Mountains and Piedmont: OBL
- Great Plains: OBL (taxonomic split from wetland indicator species)
- Midwest: OBL (taxonomic split from wetland indicator species)
- Northcentral & Northeast: OBL (taxonomic split from wetland indicator species)
Heliophily ⓘ: 7
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© Gary P. Fleming | Original Image ⭷
© Erik Danielson source | Original Image ⭷
© Erik Danielson source | Original Image ⭷Feedback
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Horticultural Information
Intro: Low-growing, rhizomatous perennial of bogs, seepage slopes, pitcher plant seepage bogs, streamheads and their margins, small swamp forests, depression ponds, interdune swales and ponds and other wet habitats.
Stems: Stemless, the flowering scapes and leaves arising from slender, creeping rhizomes and stolons.
Leaves: Leaves in a basal cluster, on typically reddish petioles with lance-shaped stipules at the base, lance-shaped (more than 3 times long as wide) with a tapering base, 1-6 in. long, shallowly toothed and smooth.
Inforescence:
Flowers: Flowers solitary on reddish stalks; white with a greenish throat; about ½ in. wide; bilaterally symmetric; consisting of 5 petals, the lowermost with prominent purple veins and a blunt, backward-pointing spur.
Fruits:
Comments: Stolons bear many closed, self-pollinating flowers.
Height: 2-10 in.
plant sale text:
bloom table text:
description: Low-growing, rhizomatous perennial of bogs, seepage slopes, pitcher plant seepage bogs, streamheads and their margins, small swamp forests, depression ponds, interdune swales and ponds and other wet habitats.
stems: Stemless, the flowering scapes and leaves arising from slender, creeping rhizomes and stolons.
leaves: Leaves in a basal cluster, on typically reddish petioles with lance-shaped stipules at the base, lance-shaped (more than 3 times long as wide) with a tapering base, 1-6 in. long, shallowly toothed and smooth.
inflorescence:
flowers: Flowers solitary on reddish stalks; white with a greenish throat; about ½ in. wide; bilaterally symmetric; consisting of 5 petals, the lowermost with prominent purple veins and a blunt, backward-pointing spur.
fruits:
comments: Stolons bear many closed, self-pollinating flowers.
cultural notes:
germination code:
native range: