NODDING GREEN VIOLET
File Size: 60 KB
 
Hybanthus verticillatus   (Ortega ) Baill.
Konza Prairie, Riley County, Kansas
Perennial
Height: 4-14 inches
Family: Violaceae - Violet Family
Flowering Period:   May, June
Stems: Erect or ascending, several clustered in small tuft, simple or branched, leafy.
Leaves: Opposite below to mostly alternate above, simple, sessile, linear to linear-lanceolate, .5 to 1.5 inches long, less than .5 inch wide, glabrous; margins mostly entire; tips pointed; smaller leaves often clustered in axils; stipules leaf-like, .5 to 1.5 inch long.
Inflorescences: Solitary flowers, in leaf axils, short-stalked, nodding.
Flowers: Sepals 5, ovate to lanceolate, margins usually fringed with hairs, tips pointed; corollas less than 1/4 inch long, 5-petaled, greenish white to cream-colored; tips purplish; lower petal fiddle-shaped, swollen at base, bearded within, larger than 4 upper petals; stamens 5, short.
Fruits: Capsules, egg-shaped to nearly spherical, glabrous; seeds rounded, slightly flattened, shiny black.
Habitat: Dry, upland prairies, hillsides, rocky areas, and disturbed sites, on gravelly or sandy soils.
Distribution: Throughout Kansas.
Comments: The short stems of nodding green violet make this plant difficult to spot in the surrounding vegetation.

Nodding green violet flower
54 KB
Konza Prairie, Riley County, Kansas
Nodding green violet leaves
94 KB
Konza Prairie, Riley County, Kansas
Nodding green violet corollas and sepals
54 KB
Konza Prairie, Riley County, Kansas
Nodding green violet fruits
67 KB
Konza Prairie, Riley County, Kansas
Nodding green violet
63 KB
Riley County, Kansas