Viola purpurea subsp. venosa

Purple-marked yellow violet, Purple-Marked Yellow Violet

Family: Violaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Purple-marked yellow violet is a California native perennial found in northern coastal ranges, northern Sierra Nevada, southern Great Basin, Great Basin, and Panamint Mountains in diverse habitats including pine forests, desert areas, gravelly plains, and meadow edges at elevations of 1,300 to 3,350 meters. Flowering from April to September, this plant produces yellow flowers with distinctive purple markings, relatively small and delicate. Growing 3 to 8.5 centimeters tall with mostly buried stems that are decumbent or erect, it develops compact growth with minimal stem elongation during the season. Its leaves are distinctive, with ovate to nearly round blades featuring 2 to 4 rounded lobes on each side, often purple-tinted and slightly fleshy, with prominent veins and irregular serrated edges. The plant thrives in varied conditions from dry to moist soils, adapting to both shaded and exposed areas with remarkable resilience.

Habitat: Many habitats, substrates, including pine forest, desert, gravelly plains, edges of wet meadows, grassy or rocky slopes, shaded or exposed areas, dry to moist soil, near snowdrifts

Bloom period: Apr-Sep

Elevation: 1300-3350 m

Bioregions: NCoRH, NCoRI, SnGb, GB, DMtns (Panamint Range)

California counties: Riverside, Modoc, Tehama, Lassen, Plumas, Mono, Nevada, Alpine, San Bernardino, Butte, Inyo, Fresno, Los Angeles, Sierra, Kern, Shasta, Colusa, San Benito, Ventura, Tulare, El Dorado

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