kingdom Plantae - plants »  divisio Magnoliophyta - flowering plants »  class Rosopsida - eudicots » order Malpighiales »  family Violaceae »  tribus Violeae > genus Viola > Viola sect. Melanium  Ging. 

Viola bicolor Pursh

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Synon: Viola kitaibeliana auct. non Schult.; Viola kitaibeliana Roemer & Schultes var. rafinesquei (Greene) Fernald; V. rafinesquei Greene 

Common name: Wild or field pansy, violette de Rafinesque Wild or field pansy, violette de Rafinesque 

Description:  × 0.3–1 cm, base attenuate, margins entire or crenate-serrate especially toward apex, eciliate, apex rounded to obtuse, surfaces glabrous or sparsely pubescent. Peduncles 1–4.5 cm, glabrous or pubescent. Flowers: sepals ovate to lanceolate, margins ciliate or eciliate, auricles 0.5–2 mm; petals white or cream to pale bluish violet on both surfaces, dark purple-veined, lateral 2 longer than sepals, bearded, lowest 8–10 mm, spur white to blue-violet, gibbous, 1–1.5 mm, shorter than or equaling sepal auricles; style head bearded; cleistogamous flowers axillary. Capsules ellipsoid to oblong, 4–7 mm, glabrous. Seeds beige to bronze, 0.3–1.5 mm. 2n = 34.  Flowering Mar–May

Distributional Range: Native Northern America 

• • NORTHEASTERN U.S.A.: United States [Indiana, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia]

  • NORTH-CENTRAL U.S.A.: United States [Illinois, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska (s.), Oklahoma, South Dakota]

  • NORTHWESTERN U.S.A.: United States [Colorado]

  • SOUTHEASTERN U.S.A.: United States [Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida (n.), Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia]

  • SOUTH-CENTRAL U.S.A.: United States [Texas]

Habitat: Prairies, open woodlands, fields, pastures, roadsides, lawns, waste ground; 0–3000 m; 

Notes: Viola bicolor is the only pansy native to North America (V. B. Baird 1942; J. Clausen et al. 1964; A. E. Radford et al. 1968) and is the only annual Viola species that produces cleistogamous flowers (Baird; A. Gershoy 1934). Roots of V. bicolor have the odor of wintergreen when crushed (W. J. Hayden and J. Clough 1990). 

References:

1. Diggs, G. M., Jr. et al. 1999. Shinner's and Mahler's illustrated flora of North Central Texas.

2. Gleason, H. A. & A. Cronquist. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada, ed. 2

3. Kartesz, J. T. & K. N. Gandhi. 1990. Nomenclatural notes for the North American flora. III. Phytologia 69:135.

4. Kartesz, J. T. 1994. A synonymized checklist of the vascular flora of the United States, Canada, and Greenland.

5. McGregor, R. L. et al. (The Great Plains Flora Association). 1986. Flora of the Great Plains. Note: = Viola rafinesquii

6. McKinney, L. E. & N. H. Russell. 2002. Violaceae of the southeastern United States. Castanea 67:372.

7. Wunderlin, R. P. 1998. Guide to the vascular plants of Florida