Wild or field pansy, violette de Rafinesque Wild or field pansy, violette de Rafinesque

Viola kitaibeliana Roemer & Schultes var. rafinesquei (Greene) Fernald; V. rafinesquei Greene

× 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. Prairies, open woodlands, fields, pastures, roadsides, lawns, waste ground; 0–3000 m; Ont., Sask.; Ala., Ariz., Ark., Colo., Conn., Del., D.C., Fla., Ga., Idaho, Ill., Ind., Iowa, Kans., Ky., La., Md., Mass., Miss., Mo., Nebr., N.J., N.Mex., N.Y., N.C., Ohio, Okla., Pa., R.I., S.C., S.Dak., Tenn., Tex., Va., W.Va.

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).