PLANT: 3-25 cm tall. LEAVES: petioles 5 23 cm long; midseasonal leaf blades cordiform to very widely ovate, 10 45 mm long, 1.5 7 mm wide, glabrous but occasionally strigose-pubescent at lead base, ciliate or not. INFLORESCENCES: pedicels to 17 cm long. FLOWERS: sepals to 8 mm long; sepal auricles of cleistogamous flowers elongated; petals deep blue violet; lowest petals (including spur) 10 19 mm long, the spur blunt, ca 5 mm long, 3 mm wide, straight; cleistogamous pedicels ascending. NOTES: See also parent taxon. Wet or damp soil along creeks and streams, and shady hillsides of coniferous forests: Apache, Cochise, Coconino, Gila, Graham, Greenlee, Mohave, Pima, Santa Cruz, Yavapai cos; 1200 2900 m (4000 9500 ft); Mar Jul; AK (Yukon), w U.S. to IA, WI to ME; Can. Often confused with V. adunca which has branching stems and V. umbraticola which inhabits dry sites. Mistakenly called V. nephrophylla Greene by Kearney and Peebles. REFERENCES: Little, R. John. 2001. Violaceae. J. Ariz. – Nev. Acad. Sci. Volume 33(1).