Downy yellow violet facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Downy yellow violet |
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Viola (plant)
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| Species: |
pubescens
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The Downy Yellow Violet (scientific name: Viola pubescens) is a beautiful wild flower. It's a type of violet that grows across North America. You can find it in many places, from Minnesota and Ontario in the north, all the way east to Nova Scotia and south to Virginia. This plant loves to grow in rich, moist forests and sometimes in open meadows.
One cool thing about the Downy Yellow Violet is that it produces two different kinds of flowers during the year. In early spring, it has pretty, open flowers that you can easily see. These are called chasmogamous flowers. Later in the summer and fall, it grows tiny, closed flowers that stay hidden. These are called cleistogamous flowers.
How to Spot the Downy Yellow Violet
It can be tricky to tell the Downy Yellow Violet apart from other similar plants. For example, the Round-leaved Yellow Violet (Viola rotundifolia) looks quite a bit like it. But there are a few easy ways to tell them apart!
Look at the Leaves
The shape of the leaves is a big clue. The Downy Yellow Violet has leaves that are often more pointed or heart-shaped. The Round-leaved Yellow Violet, as its name suggests, has leaves that are more perfectly round. Also, look at the edges of the leaves, called the leaf margin. They can be slightly different between the two species.
Where the Leaves Grow
Another important difference is where the leaves grow on the plant. The Downy Yellow Violet has leaves that grow both from the bottom of the plant (these are called basal leaves) and along the stem (these are called cauline leaves). The Round-leaved Yellow Violet, on the other hand, only has leaves that grow from the very bottom of the plant. It doesn't have leaves along its stem.
