Scientific name: Viola reichenbachiana Jord. ex Boreau
Common name: Early Dog-violet
Description
Habit: A hairless perennial, to 20 cm high.
Stems: Erect, leafy, tufted.
Leaves: Basal and forming a loose rosette, stalked, with stipules, undivided, broadly oval, heart-shaped.
Flowers: Violet, zygomorphic, hermaphrodite, solitary on erect flower stalks arising from sides of basal rosette; sepals 5, free, equal, with short extension below the insertion, which less than 1 mm and not enlarging in fruit; petals 5, free, unequal, the lower petal with narrow lobes, with a backwards directed violet spur that encloses nectar-secreting spurs of 2 lower stamens, the spur flattened and not furrowed at the tip; stamens 5; ovary 1-celled, style 1.
Fruits: A capsule, with numerous seeds.
Habitat: Woods and scrub on basic soil.Distribution: Locally frequent.
Native status: Native
Of conservation interest: No