Family: Violaceae Common Dog-violet Viola riviniana Flowering time: March-May, sometimes again August-October. Perennial Common in woods, among grassland and on banks and roadsides Scentless violet-blue flowers with branched purple veins on lower petals and a notched, pale violet or whitish spur. Fruit 3-angled, 3-seeded. Flowers on leafy shoots rising from central leaf-rosette. Leaves long-stalked, cordate (heart-shaped) with toothed stipules. Hybridises with other violet species. Viola riviniana var.nemorosa has a dark-violet spur Similar: Early Dog-violet, V. reichenbachiana, spur darker than petals

Common Dog-violet, Viola riviniana
Dorset. May 2013