NameThatPlant.net: Viola edulis

Spermatophytes (seed plants): Angiosperms (flowering plants): Eudicots: Core Eudicots: Rosids: Fabids: Malpighiales

WEAKLEY'S FLORA OF THE SOUTHEASTERN US (4/14/23):
Viola edulis FAMILY Violaceae Go to FSUS key

Dig deeper at SERNEC, a consortium of southeastern herbaria.

For the most current and comprehensive body of information regarding violets in our region, visit the new website Violets (Violaceae) of the Great Plains and Eastern North America.

Salad Violet is a wetland species, primarily found in blackwater wetlands. Read more at Vascular Plants of North Carolina.

SYNONYMOUS WITH PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Viola ×esculenta [septemloba × triloba] FAMILY Violaceae

SYNONYMOUS WITH A taxonomic treatment of the violets (Violaceae) of the northeastern US and adjacent Canada (Ballard, Kartesz, & Nishino, 2023)

Viola edulis

SYNONYMOUS WITH Floristic Synthesis of North America. BONAP (Kartesz, 2021)

Viola palmata var. heterophylla

INCLUDED WITHIN Flora of North America north of Mexico, vol. 6 (2015)

Viola palmata var. heterophylla

SYNONYMOUS WITH Floristic Synthesis of North America. BONAP (Kartesz, 2015)

Viola palmata var. esculenta

INCLUDED WITHIN Manual of Vascular Plants of NE US & Adjacent Canada (Gleason & Cronquist,1991)

Viola palmata var. palmata

INCLUDED WITHIN VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 130-02-011?:

Viola septemloba FAMILY Violaceae

SYNONYMOUS WITH Manual of the Southeastern Flora (Small, 1933, 1938)

Viola esculenta

COMMON NAME:
Atlantic Coast Salad Violet

To see larger pictures, click or hover over the thumbnails.

image of Viola edulis, Atlantic Coast Salad Violet

Herbarium of Clemson University h_cu53750

April Oconee County SC

WEAKLEY'S FLORA OF THE SOUTHEASTERN US (4/14/23):
Viola edulis FAMILY Violaceae

SYNONYMOUS WITH PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Viola ×esculenta [septemloba × triloba] FAMILY Violaceae

SYNONYMOUS WITH A taxonomic treatment of the violets (Violaceae) of the northeastern US and adjacent Canada (Ballard, Kartesz, & Nishino, 2023)
Viola edulis

SYNONYMOUS WITH Floristic Synthesis of North America. BONAP (Kartesz, 2021)
Viola palmata var. heterophylla

INCLUDED WITHIN Flora of North America north of Mexico, vol. 6
Viola palmata var. heterophylla

SYNONYMOUS WITH Floristic Synthesis of North America. BONAP (Kartesz, 2015)
Viola palmata var. esculenta

INCLUDED WITHIN Manual of Vascular Plants of NE US & Adjacent Canada (Gleason & Cronquist,1991)
Viola palmata var. palmata

INCLUDED WITHIN VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 130-02-011?:
Viola septemloba FAMILY Violaceae

SYNONYMOUS WITH Manual of the Southeastern Flora (Small, 1933, 1938)
Viola esculenta

3419

Forb
Perennial

Habitat: Sandy to mucky alluvial soils of low terraces, floodplains and swamps along blackwater streams and rivers, per Weakley's Flora

Native to the Carolinas & Georgia

Uncommon in Carolina Coastal Plain (rare elsewhere in GA-NC-SC)

map
CLICK HERE to see a map, notes, and images from Weakley's Flora of the Southeastern US.

LEAVES:
Simple

Plant heterophyllous, producing undivided leaf blades in very early spring and late autumn and leaf blades with lobes, coarse teeth or incisions during chasmogamous flowering and cleistogamous fruiting (often retaining one or more undivided blades)

Plant acaulescent (without aerial stems)
Foliage glabrous or glabrate

FLOWER:
Spring
Blue-violet (with a white eye)
Bilaterally symmetrical
Lateral petals bearded, spurred petal glabrous
5 sepals
5 petals
5 stamens

FRUIT:
Spring
Capsule

TO LEARN MORE about this plant, look it up in a good book!

"We treasure pictures and sculpture. We regard Attic temples and Roman triumphal arches and Gothic cathedrals as of priceless value. But we are, as a whole, still in that low state of civilization where we do not understand that it is also vandalism wantonly to destroy or permit the destruction of what is beautiful in nature, whether it be a cliff, a forest, or a species of mammal or bird. Here in the United States we turn our rivers and streams into sewers and dumping-grounds, we pollute the air, we destroy forests and exterminate fishes, birds and mammals — not to speak of vulgarizing charming landscapes with hideous advertisements." — Theodore Roosevelt

If a search such as "Carex leptalea var. leptalea" doesn't deliver the results you want, try "Carex leptalea".
Or, to minimize chances of a misspelling, try just "Carex le".

Less is more: If "pencil flower" doesn't deliver the results you want, try "pencil".