Species: Common Dog-violet (Viola riviniana var.purpurea (dark-leaved))
Family: Violets (VIOLACEAE)
Category: Flowering Plants
Location: NW
A. Flowering Plants
More extensive information on flowering plants can be found in a separate blog post.
B. Violets (VIOLACEAE)
The 5-petalled colourful flowers of our native violets brighten up woodlands from March. In folklore violets are symbolic of love.
C. Common Dog-violet (Viola riviniana var.purpurea (dark-leaved))
This dark-leaved violet has heart-shaped leaves and is unscented. It flowers from March. The 'dog' in this flower's name indicates that it is considered somehow inferior to other types of violet. ('Horse' in a plant's/flower's name often has the same function.) This violet has no scent.
Images
Common Dog-violet
This dark-leaved violet has heart-shaped leaves and is unscented. It flowers from March. This was photographed in mid-April 2022, just after an unseasonally cold period.
Common Dog-violet
The Common Dog-violet has a pale, almost white, backward-facing spur behind its petals, as can be seen in this photograph. In comparison, the Early Dog-violet, to date the only other violet in the Cemetery, has a violet-coloured spur, not the pale or white one of this Common Dog-violet.
Common Dog-violet
This Common Dog-Violet was also photographed in mid-April 2022. Note the near-white spur visible behind the flower - and the slightly darker leaf colour compared to the first pair of photographs above.
Common Dog-violet
Despite the darker leaves of this violet, the diagnostic pale-coloured spur behind the flower marks this out as the Common Dog-violet.
