Viola purpurea subsp. mesophyta

Family: Violaceae · Type: perennial · Native

yellow violet is a California native perennial found in the northern California Mountains, Sierra Nevada, western Transverse Ranges, and San Bernardino and San Jacinto Mountains in damp, shady areas of lodgepole pine and fir forests at elevations of 1,400 to 3,600 meters. Flowering from May to August, this plant produces yellow flowers with purple-tinted petals 7 to 10 millimeters long. Growing 9 to 18.5 centimeters tall with generally erect stems that elongate by the end of the growing season, it has a delicate, upright form. Its leaves are lanceolate to ovate-oblong, with bases tapered and slightly oblique, ranging from 1.5 to 4.8 centimeters long, and featuring irregular tooth-like edges. The fruit is small, measuring 4 to 5.5 millimeters long.

Habitat: Damp, shady areas in lodgepole pine, fir forest

Bloom period: May-Aug

Elevation: 1400-3600 m

Bioregions: CaR, SNH, WTR, SnBr, SnJt.

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.