Kingdom Plantae Family Violaceae Scientific name Viola persicifolia | Order Malpighiales Genus Viola Rank Species | |
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Similar Violet, Meadow Violet, Viola elatior, Viola rupestris, Maruba‑ke‑sumire | ||
Viola persicifolia, the fen violet, is a violet (family Violaceae), native to central and northern Europe and northern Asia.
It grows to a height of 10–30 cm from a creeping rhizome, with narrow, triangular leaves 7–15 mm across. The flowers are produced in late spring to early summer, 10–15 mm diameter, pale bluish or yellowish-white with a short, greenish or yellowish spur. The petals are rounded and broad in relation to their width.
Its habitat is confined to very local damp, lime-rich places, in long herbage (fens and limy marshes).
In the British Isles, it is rare, confined to eastern and northern England and damp hollows with limestone soils in western Ireland. Efforts are being made to re-introduce it to newly suitable habitat in the Fens as part of the Great Fen Project.
