Bill's Botanical Forays

(Photo above: a picture of a plant with the rhizomes clearly visible.)

 

Today I had the privilege of taking Bill Hubick and Michael Ostrowski on an abbreviated tour of the North. Along the way, we found this cute little plant called a  Primrose-leaved Violet (Viola primulifolia L. (pro sp.) [lanceolata × macloskeyi]) today along the southern edge of Burr Reed Swamp.

 

 

This small-flowered species of violet is found in eastern North America along the east coast from Maine to Florida and to Minnesota to Texas on the west. It likes to have its feet wet, being found in swampy and boggy sites. Its flowering stem is borne on a leafless stalk that rises from the root crown.

 

 

 

The leaves are glabrous, which to a botanists means the surface is without hairs or projections. They are orbicular to orbicular-ovate in shape, which means the outline of the leaves resemble an orbit.

 

Plants spread vegetatively via creeping rhizomes with stolons (prostrate stems) and are capable of producing sizable colonies.

 

The flowers are only 1/4 to 3/8 inch across. The lateral petals are bearded and lower petal has purple lines.

 

 

 

 

 

Below are some random shots of other Viola primuifolia plants found on the random. Click on each for the full sized view.