Viola purpurea subsp. mesophyta M. S. Baker & J. C. Clausen, Madroño 10: 114, plate 4 [left upper center]. 1949

Plants 9–18.5 cm. Stems usually erect, usually not buried, elongated by end of season, usually puberulent, sometimes ± glabrous. Leaves: basal: 1–5; petiole 2.8–13.8 cm, puberulent; blade purple-tinted abaxially, green adaxially, oblong, ovate-oblong, or lanceolate, 1.7–4.2 × 0.5–2.3 cm, base attenuate, usually oblique, margins usually irregularly repand-dentate to –serrate, sometimes ± entire, apex acute to obtuse, surfaces puberulent; cauline: petiole 0.3–12.3 cm, puberulent; blade lanceolate to ovate- or oblong-lanceolate, 1.5–5.2 × 0.2–1.5 cm, length 3.2–7.1 times width, base attenuate, usually oblique, margins usually undulate-denticulate, sharp-angled, sometimes entire, apex acute to obtuse, surfaces puberulent. Peduncles 2.6–6.7 cm, glabrous or usually puberulent. Lowest petals 7–10 mm. Capsules 4–5.5 mm. Seeds mottled gray and brown, 2.3–2.9 mm.

Flowering May–Aug. Damp, shady areas in lodgepole pine, red and white fir forests; 1400–3600 m; Calif.

Variety mesophyta was reported from Oregon by M. E. Peck (1941), but is not currently known there (H. L. Chambers in T. Cook and S. Sundberg, http://www.oregonflora.org/checklist.php).