Viola purpurea subsp. integrifolia
Family: Violaceae · Type: perennial · Native
Yellow violet is a California native perennial found in northwestern California, Cascade Range, and northern and central Sierra Nevada Mountains in red fir and pine forests to timberline, including sandy, gravelly, or rocky soil at elevations of 1,200 to 2,600 meters. Flowering from May to August, this plant produces yellow flowers with purple-tinted petals 8 to 11 millimeters long. Growing with compact stems 1.5 to 9 centimeters tall that are mostly buried and not much elongated by season's end, it forms a dense, low-growing cluster. Its basal leaves are ovate to nearly round, 0.8 to 3.1 centimeters long, with entire or slightly crenate edges, green on top and often fleshy with a tapered or cordate base. The fruit is 5 to 7 millimeters long.
Habitat: Red fir, pine forests to timberline, sandy, gravelly, or rocky soil, including serpentine
Bloom period: May-Aug
Elevation: 1200-2600 m
Bioregions: NW, CaR, n&c SNH
California counties: Tuolumne, Lassen, Calaveras, Siskiyou, Shasta, Mendocino, Inyo, Plumas, Humboldt, Lake, Nevada, El Dorado, Sierra, Placer, Mono, Butte, Tehama, Alpine, Colusa, Modoc, Trinity, Glenn, Madera
Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.