Viola tomentosa

Felt-leaved violet

Family: Violaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Conservation status: CNPS 4.2

Felt-leaved violet is a California native perennial ranked 4.2 by CNPS, found in northern central Sierra Nevada Mountains in dry, gravelly places within open pine forests at elevations of 1,350 to 2,030 meters. Flowering from May to August, this plant produces deep lemon-yellow flowers with maroon or brown upper petals and brown-purple veined lower petals, with distinctive lateral petals featuring cylindric beard hairs. Growing as a small, densely white-tomentose herb 7 to 10 centimeters tall, it develops prostrate to erect stems clustered on woody rhizomes. Its leaves are simple, with elliptic to narrowly ovate blades 1.5 to 5 centimeters long, featuring a base that is obliquely tapered and a tip that ranges from acute to obtuse. The fruit is a small, white-tomentose rounded capsule up to 5 millimeters long.

Habitat: Dry, gravelly places in open pine forest (Jeffrey, lodgepole, ponderosa)

Bloom period: May-Aug

Elevation: 1350-2030 m

Bioregions: n-c SNH.

California counties: Nevada, Placer, Plumas, El Dorado, Sierra, Tulare

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