Viola egglestonii

Viola egglestonii, commonly known as glade violet, is a species herbaceous plant in the violet family. It is native to a small area of eastern North America, only being found in limestone cedar glades of the Interior Low Plateau and Ridge and Valley ecoregions of Alabama, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, and Tennessee.^[1]

Viola egglestonii
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Eudicots
Clade:	Rosids
Order:	Malpighiales
Family:	Violaceae
Genus:	Viola
Species:	V. egglestonii
Binomial name
Viola egglestonii Brainerd

Viola egglestonii is a perennial, stemless blue violet, distinguished by its deeply lobed leaves, bearded petals, and glabrous leaves. Peak blooming occurs in early to mid April.^[2] The cedar glade habitat which it is endemic to is generally rare, and populations of this species are tracked in all of the states it is found in except Tennessee. It is the most common in Tennessee's Nashville Basin due to the region's relative abundance of limestone cedar glades.

References

1. "Flora of the Southern and Mid-Atlantic States".
2. Baskin, Jerry; Baskin, Carol (1975). "Observations on the Ecology of the Cedar Glade Endemic Viola egglestonii". The American Midland Naturalist. 93. doi:10.2307/2424165. JSTOR 2424165.