Wood violet, the state flower of Wisconsin

How to recognize it

The wood violet is a low perennial, about 3 to 10 inches tall. Its glossy, broadly heart-shaped leaves, up to about 3 or 4 inches long with rounded teeth, grow from the base of the plant, and each flower sits on its own stalk. The flowers have five petals, usually purple-blue with a white throat, about three-quarters of an inch to an inch and a quarter across; the two side petals carry tufts of white hairs. Each flower nods slightly on its stalk. Small flowers that never open also form near the ground and produce plenty of seed. In Wisconsin it blooms from about April to June.

Where it grows

The wood violet is native to eastern North America, including Wisconsin. It grows in prairies, fields, open woods, forests, along stream banks and roadsides, and in lawns, in sun or shade, and does best in rich, moist soil. In good conditions it spreads freely from seed.

Where to see it

It is one of Wisconsin’s most common wildflowers, with specimens recorded from about 70 of the state’s 72 counties. Look in spring in moist woods and shady lawns; Putnam Park in Eau Claire is one good place.

A wildflower you can eat

The leaves are high in vitamins A and C and can be eaten raw or cooked, and the flowers are used in candies and jellies.

The state flower since 1949

Wisconsin’s schoolchildren chose the violet long before the Legislature did. In 1908 they narrowed the candidates to four, the violet, wild rose, trailing arbutus and white water lily, and the violet won the final vote on Arbor Day 1909. The Legislature made it official in 1949, in the same law that named the robin and the sugar maple. The law uses the name Viola papilionacea, now treated as a synonym of Viola sororia. Wisconsin has no separate state wildflower, and New Jersey and Rhode Island have chosen the same violet.