Viola lanceolata Linnaeus. Section: Plagiostigma. Subsection: Stolonosae. Lanceleaf Violet, Northern Water Violet. Phen: Chasmogamous flower Mar-Jun; chasmogamous fruit Jun-Jul; cleistogamous fruit Jul-Nov. Hab: Bogs, seepage slopes, pitcher plant seepage bogs, streamheads and their margins, small swamp forests, depression ponds, interdune swales and ponds, other wet habitats. Dist: 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)

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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