''Viola palustris'' (marsh violet, or alpine marsh violet) is a perennial forb of the genus '' Viola''. It inhabits moist meadows, marshes, and stream banks in northern parts of

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

and Eurasia. The species

epithet An epithet (, ), also byname, is a descriptive term (word or phrase) known for accompanying or occurring in place of a name and having entered common usage. It has various shades of meaning when applied to seemingly real or fictitious people, di ...

''palustris'' is Latin for "of the marsh" and indicates its common habitat.Archibald William Smith

Description

''Viola palustris'' is a 5 to 22 cm, glabrous herb with petioles and

peduncle Peduncle may refer to: *Peduncle (botany), a stalk supporting an inflorescence, which is the part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed *Peduncle (anatomy), a stem, through which a mass of tissue is attached to a body **Peduncle (art ...

s from slender

rhizome In botany and dendrology, a rhizome (; , ) is a modified subterranean plant stem that sends out roots and shoots from its nodes. Rhizomes are also called creeping rootstalks or just rootstalks. Rhizomes develop from axillary buds and grow hori ...

s. The cordate to reniform leaves are 2.5 to 3.5 cm wide with coarse, shallow, blunt teeth. Petioles are 2 to 17 cm. The white to lilac flowers are 10 to 13 mm long. Peduncles are about the same length as petioles. The lower three petals have purple lines. The lateral pair are lightly bearded. It is used as the foodplant for the pearl-bordered fritillary and the small pearl-bordered fritillary. It is a known host for the pathogenic fungi '' Hendersonia violae'' and ''

Puccinia fergussonii ''Puccinia'' is a genus of fungi. All species in this genus are obligate plant pathogens and are known as rusts. The genus contains about 4000 species. The genus name of ''Puccinia'' is in honour of Tommaso Puccini (died 1735), who was an Italia ...

''.Helgi Hallgrímsson & Guðríður Gyða Eyjólfsdóttir (2004)
''Íslenskt sveppatal I - smásveppir'' [Checklist of Icelandic Fungi I - Microfungi
Fjölrit Náttúrufræðistofnunar. Náttúrufræðistofnun Íslands [Icelandic Institute of Natural History]. ISSN 1027-832X

References

External links

Jepson Manual Treatment
palustris Flora of Europe Flora of Finland Flora of Russia Flora of California Flora of Oregon Flora of the West Coast of the United States Plants described in 1753 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus {{Violaceae-stub