Viola selkirkii (Great-Spurred Violet) - photos and description
Looking straight down on plant
Petals without hairs
Top of leaf with scattered hairs
General: Delicate woodland violet, scapes leafless,
and with scapes about as tall as leaves. Plants acaulescent.
Taxonomic
key to Saskatchewan's violets.
Flowers: Flowers solitary on scapes, light purple in colour, to 15 mm diameter, long spurred - spur comprising nearly 2/3 the length of the spur petal, typical measurement spur petal = 15 mm long, spur 9 mm of that.
Leaves: Leaves are basal, cordate with narrowed sinuses, crenate. Plant glabrous except for the top of the leaves which are noticeably hairy, the hairs can be seen without using a loupe. Leaf measured at 35 mm long and 25 mm wide.
Height: Height listed in Budd's Flora to 15 cm, we measured leaves and scapes to a height of only 5 cm.
Habitat: Moist woodlands.
Abundance: Rare, ranked as an S3 (as of 2021) by the Saskatchewan Conservation Data Centre.
Origin: Native.
When and where photographed: Above photos taken May 27th, north facing slopes, mixed woods, Porcupine Hills, about 400 km north east of our home in Regina, SK.