Viola riviniana is a species of the genus Viola. It is also called wood violet or dog violet. It is a perennial herb of woodland rides, grassland and shady hedge banks. It is found in all soils except acid or very wet.
It is a perennial, which flowers from April to June.
Its leaves are heart shaped with rounded teeth and are usually hairless. It has 2 slender bracts, 6 sepals spear shaped lobed at the base, 5 overlapping petals with a backward pointing spur. Once the flower has been fertilised, the spur will split into 3 to reveal the egg shaped seeds - see Viola description.
Toothed stipules can be found at the base of the plant.
Sweet Violet Viola odorata - sweetly scented and has all the leaves at the base of the plant, the stipules are gland tipped
Heath Dog Violet Viola canina - has clear blue flowers, narrower leaves and smaller teeth on the stipules
Marsh Violet Viola palustris - found in wet places, leaves are kidney shaped which come from underground creeping stems, and the flowers are dark-veined. The stipules have no teeth at all.
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