Family: Violaceae Viola hirta     *     Hairy Violet Flowering time: March - May. Perennial Habitat: Calcareous grassland, open woods, scrub and rocky ground. Unscented pale violet-blue flowers with blunt sepals and spreading hairs on the seed-capsules, flower and leaf-stalks. Hairy leaves, their bases deeply cordate. No stolons, the flowers and leaves growing from a central tuft. Viola hirta ssp. calcarea: Smaller plants with narrower petals and shorter spurs growing on calcareous grassland. Similar: Sweet Violet, V. odorata and Early Dog-violet, V. reichenbachiana

Hairy Violet, Viola hirta
Badbury Rings, Dorset. March 2016