Plant: small perennial shrub; 13-40 cm tall; stems erect, leafy, often many branched from a slightly woody base, glabrous to strigose or pilose Leaves: stipules 3-40 mm long, 0.5 mm wide, leaf-like, but smaller, linear to lanceolate, glabrous to hirsute, gland-tipped; petioles none to ca. 1 mm long; blades 1.5-5 cm long, 1.5-8 mm wide, linear, lanceolate to oblanceolate, glabrous to pubescent; tip acute; margins usually entire, ciliate or not; lower and upper leaves alternate Inflorescence: flowers 1 in leaf axil, the pedicels 0.7-1.4 cm long, hirsute to densely pubescent, erect, horizontal, or usually pendant Flowers: sepals ovate to lanceolate, with midrib often slightly inflated and forming a keel, entire to ciliate, 1.5-3 mm long, 0.5-1 mm wide at base; petals greenish white or yellowish with purple tips, the lower petals 2.5-6 mm long, spatulate, the tip 1-3 mm wide above a median constriction, this 0.5 mm wide, the petal base 1-2 mm wide, glabrous to short-pilose on both surfaces; lateral petals ca. 3 mm long, purple-tinged; upper petals ca. 2-3 mm long, purple-tipped. Presence of cleistogamous flowers not determined Fruit: FRUITS 4-6 mm long, globose to ovoid, usually short-beaked, glabrous; SEEDS usually 6 per capsule, globose to somewhat flattened with angular edges, dark brown to shiny black; caruncle white to cream, hood shaped Misc: Dry plains and mesas, desert grasslands, chaparral, and riparian habitats; 350-1650 m (1100-5400 ft); Apr-Oct REFERENCES: Little, R. John. Violaceae. 2001. J. Ariz. – Nev. Acad. Sci. Volume 33(1).