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Violaceae
Prairie Violet
Viola pedatifida
Faithful love.
- Family
- Violaceae
- Genus
- Viola
- Native to
- United States, Canada
- Bloom season
- Spring
- Type
- perennial
- Height
- 3-6 in
- Sunlight
- full sun to partial shade
- Soil
- well-drained, dry to mesic
- Water
- low to moderate
- Hardiness
- 3-8
- Lifespan
- perennial
Did you know
- The deeply divided, bird-foot-shaped leaves are unique among violets and help it survive in exposed prairie conditions by reducing water loss.
- In addition to its showy spring flowers, it produces cleistogamous (self-pollinating, closed) flowers at ground level in summer that set abundant seed.
- It is the sole larval food plant for the regal fritillary butterfly, one of the most endangered butterflies in North America.
- The flowers are edible and have been candied as cake decorations since Elizabethan times.
- Prairie violet populations have declined by over 90% in many areas due to prairie conversion, paralleling the decline of the regal fritillary.
Color meanings
0
faithfulness
1
modesty
2
virtue