Viola lanceolata L.

Acaulescent, glabrous or somewhat hairy, with slender creeping rhizomes, and in summer producing many creeping stolons with cleistogamous fls; lvs narrow, mostly more than 3 times as long as wide, tapering to the base, crenulate to serrate; pet white, the 2 upper linear-oblong or broadly oblong to obovate, the 3 lower with brown-purple veins near the base, all beardless; cleistogamous fls on erect peduncles; frs green, ellipsoid, 5–8 mm; seeds brown; 2n=24. Wet, open places, often along streams and ponds, especially in sandy soil; Me. and N.B. to Fla., w. to w. Ont., Minn., e. Okla., and e. Tex. Apr.–June. Two vars.: Var. lanceolata, with lanceolate lvs mostly 3.5–6 times as long as wide, is chiefly northern, and widespread in our range. Var. vittata (Greene) Weath. & Griscom, with narrower lvs mostly 6–16 times as long as wide, is more southern, occurring chiefly on the coastal plain from Va. to Fla. and Tex., with a disjunct area at the s. end of Lake Michigan. (V. vittata)