Viola persicifolia

Taxobox
name = Fen violet

---

image_width = 240px
regnum = Plantae
divisio = Magnoliophyta
classis = Magnoliopsida
ordo = Malpighiales
familia = Violaceae
genus = "Viola"
species = "V. persicifolia"
binomial = "Viola persicifolia"
binomial_authority = Schreber
synonyms = "Viola stagnina" Kit.

The fen violet, "Viola persicifolia", 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.

References and external links

* Keble Martin, W. "The Concise British Flora in Colour" (1974)
* McClintock, D. & Fitter, R.S.R. "The Pocket Guide to Wild Flowers" (Collins 1956)
* [http://www.greatfen.org.uk/project.php?page=management&v=1 Great Fen Project] .
* [http://www.mapmate.co.uk/checklist/violaceae.htm Source of alternative binomial] .