Violet, the state flower of Illinois

How to recognize it

The common blue violet is a low plant, usually six to ten inches tall, with glossy, heart-shaped leaves. Its flowers are purple to blue, sometimes white, with a white throat. The three lower petals are slightly hairy, and the flower stalk droops a little at the tip, so each flower nods. It blooms in spring, from about March to May.

Violets have a hidden trick. Later in the season they make a second kind of flower, small and closed, near the ground. These flowers never open, but they pollinate themselves and produce most of the plant’s seed.

Where it grows

Violets are native to Illinois, and the state has about eight blue-flowered species. The common blue violet grows throughout the state and across most of the eastern and central United States and southern Canada. It is adaptable, thriving anywhere from full sun to deep shade: in moist woods, along shaded edges and in lawns. It spreads freely and can become a weed in gardens.

Where to see it

In spring, look almost anywhere in Illinois: woodland floors, stream banks, shaded roadsides and, very often, lawns, where violets bloom among the grass in April and May.

Chosen by children in 1907

In 1907 Mrs. James C. Fessler of Rochelle suggested that Illinois schoolchildren choose the state flower. The children voted, and the violet won with 16,583 votes, ahead of the wild rose with 12,628 and goldenrod with 4,315. The same vote picked “the oak” as the state tree. State Senator Andrew J. Jackson of Rockford carried the bill, and the violet became the state flower in 1908.

The law names “the native violet” without choosing a species, so all of Illinois’s native violets share the title. The Illinois State Museum identifies the common blue violet as the most common. Today the designation is section 40 of the State Designations Act.

A good flower to know

Besides being pretty, the common blue violet is edible. Its leaves are rich in vitamins A and C, and its flowers are sometimes candied or made into jelly.