Viola cucullata Aiton

Glabrous, acaulescent; rhizome short, oblique or horizontal, often branching to form colonies; lvs all merely crenate-serrate, cordate at base, the blade typically held at an angle to the strongly ascending petiole, ovate to reniform at anthesis, the summer-lvs to 10 cm wide, all except the earliest acute or shortly acuminate; fls on long, slender peduncles, typically elevated well above the lvs; pet light violet to sometimes white, usually with a dark-veined eye, the 2 lateral pet densely bearded with short hairs generally well under 1 mm, many of or all the hairs strongly clavate or with a conspicuously expanded knob at the end; spurred pet glabrous, somewhat shorter than the lateral ones; cleistogamous fls long and slender, on long, erect peduncles, the auricles nearly as long as the sep; fr ovoid-cylindric, only slightly longer than the sep; seeds nearly black; 2n=54. Bogs, swamps, and other wet or moist places in shade or sun, not weedy; Nf. to Ont. and Minn., s. to N.C., Ga., Tenn., and e. Ark. Apr.–July.

Wet places, often in open woods. Wet meadows, springs, bogs, swamps etc. Open or wooded wet areas, seeps, springs, swamps, marshes, streamsides; at elevations up to 2,000 metres.

Can be grown by divisions or seedlings. Seeds needs stratification.