Common Blue Violet – Native Plant of the Day 03/01/2020
Photo from 03/21/2009. Location: The Pocket, Walker County, GA.
More photos / info at the Viola sororia detail page.
Common Blue Violet – Viola sororia
Also NPOD 03/01/2011, 03/01/2012, 03/01/2013, 03/01/2014, 03/01/2015, 03/01/2016, 03/01/2017, 03/01/2018, 03/01/2019
Coincidentally, I found our first blooming Common Blue Violet on 3/1. I knew where to look for this particular specimen. It grows in a microclimate created by a south-facing rock face — actually growing out of a crack in the rock — and always blooms a week or so ahead of it’s ground-dwelling kin.
I love having those special places like that, Marvin. I’ve got a particular spot I check for the first Columbine of the season. However, I found another spot this year with even earlier blooms; a bit harder to reach. (Sorry I took a year to respond!)
gcw
That is not the common blue violet. It is much bigger and bluer. It t takes over grass and makes a pink syrup. Mine is blooming predominantly with a heritage yellow euphorbia, maybe a hundred blossoms. I just spotted a white violet with a purple spur, which is nice too by a beat up ravine
Lot of the cemetery remnants still retain violets in some form.
The student slum area of OSU still has its share.
The ideal violet situation is half cemetery grass and half moss. The grass is immediately recognizable once you have seen it. The oldest cemeteries in this state were all moss originally and many switched over to grass.
To quote Flora of North America, “Viola sororia is similar to V. palmata in the high degree of phenotypic plasticity” – its physical characteristics (including size) can vary significantly depending upon the environment of the particular individual plant. I appreciate your comment and visit to the website.