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This species produces no cleistogamous or blind
flowers. Frequently the bird's-foot violet blooms a second time,
in autumn, a delightful eccentricity of this family. The spur of
its lower petal is long and very slender, and, as might be
expected, the longest-tongued bees and butterflies are its most
frequent visitors. These receive the pollen on the base of the
proboscis.
The WOOLLY BLUE VIOLET (V. sororia), whose stems and younger
leaves, at least, are covered with hairs, and whose purplish-blue
flowers are more or less bearded within, prefers a shady but dry
situation; whereas its next of kin, the ARROW-LEAVED VIOLET (V.
sagittata), delights in moist but open meadows and marshes. The
latter's long, arrow, or halberd-shaped leaves, usually entire
above the middle, but slightly lobed below it, may rear
themselves nine inches high in favorable soil, or in dry uplands
perhaps only two inches. The flowering scapes grow as tall as the
leaves. All but the lower petal of the large, deep, dark,
purplish-blue flower are bearded.


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