Viola striata

Notes on comparison with Viola canadensis. Illustrations: 7 photographs of Viola striata and 2 drawings.

(Note on comparison with V Canadensis)

Both Viola canadensis and Viola striata have white flowers on vertical stems. Viola striata has creamy-white flowers, often with wavy margins on the petals, but there is no yellow color present. It is named for its purple guidelines on the lower petal.   V. striata has glossy dark green leaves, more evenly distributed along the stem. Summer leaves are the same size as those produced in spring.   V. striata is found at lower warmer elevations and only in the eastern states; V. canadensis is in generally cooler locations, from low elevations in the north ascending to higher locations at more southern latitudes.   The leaves are lighter green, thicker, wider and not so obviously veined. Cauline leaves more clustered towards the top of the stem.

The habit of these two species is very different during late summer through winter. From the upper axils of the stem leaves, V. striata produces a multitude of small round cleistogamous seed pods with sepals exceeding the length of the pod, compared to V. canadensis’s shorter recurved sepals only half the length of the larger pods. The production of seed pods on V. canadensis are chasmogamous only, ending by mid-summer. The stems of V. striata are weaker and less erect, eventually lying on the surface of the ground. In early autumn a tuft of bright green new vertical basal leaves forms in late summer from the center of the darker, slightly purple older leaves. While the old prostrate long stems die in late autumn, these new autumn leaves remain evergreen during the winter, even under heavy snow turning a purple color before the time of snow melt the following spring. V. canadensis plants are wholly deciduous, shooting anew in spring later than most other violet species.