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Yellow violet is a native perennial, the only yellow violet species in Jackson Park (indeed, in all of Illinois). One or more stems arise from an axil of a stem leaf; they are up to 6" tall with a single 3/4" long flower at their tips. Each flower consists of five light green sepals, five yellow petals, five stamens, and a single style; the stamens and style cannot be seen from the exterior. On the lower petal, the flowers have purple lines (nectar guides) and a spur reduced to a small pouch. The two lower, lateral petals have small tufts of hair that obscure the throat of the flower and hide the stamens and style; the two upper, lateral petals are beardless and have only faint lines (nectar guides), if any. The fruit of this species is a bullet-shaped (hairless in the Jackson Park forms) capsule nestled in the calyx with the remnant of the style at its tip, initially green but turning brown as it matures; it ultimately splits along three suture lines to fling the seeds away from the plant.

Viola

Viola pubescens

yellow violet [Blooms: Apr-May]