General: Perennial from a thickened rhizome, without stolons, plants up to 25 cm tall; stems lacking.
Leaves: Basal leaves heart-shaped to triangular, toothed, smooth or nearly so, the blades 3.5-7 cm long, 3-5 cm wide, the stalks 5-25 cm long; stem leaves lacking; stipules linear-lanceolate, entire.
Flowers: Inflorescence of single, axillary flowers; petals 5, bluish-violet, the lower petal 10-20 mm long including the 2- to 3-mm long pouched spur, the lower 3 bearded and more or less whitish at the base, the lateral pair sometimes not bearded; sepals 5, lanceolate; style heads smooth.
Fruits: Capsules, smooth, 8-10 mm long; seeds brown.
Notes: Two varieties occur in BC
1. All petals bearded................... var. cognata (Greene) C.L. Hitchc.
1. Only the lower three petals bearded........................ var. nephrophylla
Moist to wet meadows, thickets, marshes, open woodlands and streambanks in the montane to alpine zones; frequent in SE BC, rare northward, absent along the Coast N of 50degreeN; N to NT, E to NF and S to ME, NH, PA, WV, IN, IO, LA, TX, NM, AZ and CA.
The table below shows the species-specific information calculated from original data (BEC database) provided by the BC Ministry of Forests and Range. (Updated August, 2013)
