Viola caninaL.

dog violetheath dog-violetheath violet

WFO wfo-0000426538 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Viola canina, photographed by Eugene Popov
fig. a Eugene Popov, CC BY 4.0 / 2022-06-12 / obs. 205732366
Viola canina, photographed by Иван Шихалев
fig. b Иван Шихалев, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 203558322
Viola canina, photographed by Эльмира
fig. c Эльмира, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 200934292
Viola canina, photographed by Марина Садыкова
fig. d Марина Садыкова, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 199601143
Viola canina, photographed by ll r Ирина
fig. e ll r Ирина, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 204679763
Viola canina, photographed by ll r Ирина
fig. f ll r Ирина, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 204680050
Viola canina, photographed by Pavel Kúr
fig. g Pavel Kúr, CC0 1.0 / obs. 198949957
Viola canina, photographed by Дауд Арсанукаев
fig. h Дауд Арсанукаев, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 198824743

Every figure is a research-grade observation under CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA, rehosted with the photographer’s name, the licence and the observation it came from. Photographs under a NonCommercial licence are excluded from this site and are never stored, which costs us a great many pictures and is not negotiable.

Native range 51 botanical countries

Regions where Viola canina is native: Morocco, Altay, Buryatiya, Chita, Irkutsk, Kazakhstan, Krasnoyarsk, Mongolia, North Caucasus, Transcaucasus, Tuva, West Siberia, Yakutiya, Albania, Austria, Baltic States, Belarus, Belgium, Bulgaria, Central European Russia, Corse, Czechia-Slovakia, Denmark, East European Russia, Finland, Føroyar, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Krym, Netherlands, North European Russia, Northwest European Russia, Norway, NW. Balkan Pen., Poland, Portugal, Romania, Sardegna, South European Russia, Spain, Svalbard, Sweden, Switzerland, Türkiye-in-Europe, Ukraine MoroccoAltayBuryatiyaChitaIrkutskKazakhstanKrasnoyarskMongoliaNorth CaucasusTranscaucasusTuvaWest SiberiaYakutiyaAlbaniaAustriaBaltic StatesBelarusBelgiumBulgariaCentral European RussiaCorseCzechia-SlovakiaDenmarkEast European RussiaFinlandFranceGermanyGreeceHungaryIcelandIrelandItalyKrymNetherlandsNorth European RussiaNorthwest European RussiaNorwayNW. Balkan Pen.PolandPortugalRomaniaSouth European RussiaSpainSvalbardSwedenSwitzerlandTürkiye-in-EuropeUkraine FøroyarSardegna
Native distribution of Viola canina, after Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Introduced, extinct and doubtful records are excluded, so this is where the plant is from, not everywhere it now grows. Regions too small to draw at this scale are marked with a dot.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Albania ALB EUROPE
Austria AUT
Baltic States BLT
Belarus BLR
Belgium BGM
Bulgaria BUL
Central European Russia RUC
Corse COR
Czechia-Slovakia CZE
Denmark DEN
East European Russia RUE
Finland FIN
Føroyar FOR
France FRA
Germany GER
Great Britain GRB
Greece GRC
Hungary HUN
Iceland ICE
Ireland IRE
Italy ITA
Krym KRY
Netherlands NET
North European Russia RUN
Northwest European Russia RUW
Norway NOR
NW. Balkan Pen. YUG
Poland POL
Portugal POR
Romania ROM
Sardegna SAR
South European Russia RUS
Spain SPA
Svalbard SVA
Sweden SWE
Switzerland SWI
Türkiye-in-Europe TUE
Ukraine UKR
Altay ALT ASIA-TEMPERATE
Buryatiya BRY
Chita CTA
Irkutsk IRK
Kazakhstan KAZ
Krasnoyarsk KRA
Mongolia MON
North Caucasus NCS
Transcaucasus TCS
Tuva TVA
West Siberia WSB
Yakutiya YAK
Morocco MOR AFRICA

Not drawn on the map: Great Britain. We hold no public-domain boundary for this region, so it is listed rather than guessed at.

Region boundaries approximated from Natural Earth (public domain) and mapped to TDWG World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (WGSRPD) level-3 botanical countries (Brummitt 2001). Indicative, not the official WGSRPD geometry.

Also published as 20 synonyms

A synonym is not an error. It is a record of botanists disagreeing, in print, about where this plant belongs. Each of these was somebody’s considered answer.

  • Viola albertina Greene
  • Viola apetala F.W.Schmidt
  • Viola canina var. caulescens Tosco ex G.Ariello & Bellia
  • Viola cetia Beck ex Borbás
  • Viola ericetorum Schrad. ex Link
  • Viola filipes Greene
  • Viola flavicornis Sm.
  • Viola intermedia Krock.
  • Viola leucoceras Borbás ex Murr
  • Viola lucorum Lange
  • Viola macrostipulata Schur
  • Viola montana var. elatior (Fr.) Regel
  • Viola neglecta F.W.Schmidt
  • Viola pobedimovae C.Serg.
  • Viola pseudocanina Schur
  • Viola radicans DC. ex Ging.
  • Viola ramosa Gaterau
  • Viola schmidtiana Schult.
  • Viola schultzii Billot
  • Viola turfosa Kirschl. ex F.Schultz

Sourcesevery claim on this page

  1. World Flora Online Plant List. accepted name, authority, classification. CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-12.
  2. iNaturalist. photographs and flowering annotations, CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA only. per photograph. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
  3. Wikidata. common name (P1843), joined on the World Flora Online identifier (P7715). CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-13.
  4. Kew, World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP v16). native distribution by TDWG level-3 botanical country, and life form. CC BY 3.0. Retrieved 2026-06-04.

We publish what we can source and we say so when we cannot. This page has no care advice and no toxicity claim, because we do not yet have those from a source we can cite.