Fen violet

Fen violet Viola stagnina Kitaibel, a member of the Violaciae family (the violets), has a creeping rootstock and narrow, triangular leaves. It grows to a height of ten to thirty centimetres. The flowers are 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 in eastern and northern England, it is also found in damp hollows in limestone in western Ireland. It flowers from May to June.