Sweet White Violet

Viola blanda

Pollinator Value

🐝 Specialist Bee Host: Andrena violae
S17 Viola genus specialist, range CT-DE-FL-GA-MA-MD-MS-NC-NH-NJ-NY-PA-SC-VA-WV
❄️ Winter Food Source: Seeds consumed by ground-foraging birds including Ruffed Grouse, Wild Turkey, Dark-eyed Junco, Vesper Sparrow, and Northern Bobwhite. Ruffed Grouse showed highest dietary occurrence at 16.9%.
S57

Proximity Score: 0
Native Status: ✅ Outaouais ✅ Ottawa ❌ QC ❌ ON
Closest Direction: Local
CEC Eco-Regions: 5 – Northern Forests, 5.2 – Mixed Wood Shield, 5.2.3 – Algonquin/Southern Laurentians
Rarity Notes: Secure in both Ontario (S5) and Quebec (S5) with global rank G5. Not SARA listed. Common in the Ottawa region and sparse on the Quebec side of the Ottawa-Hull area per historical flora records. VASCAN lists QC and ON status as doubtful, but NatureServe ranks both as S5 and lists both as native subnational jurisdictions, supported by extensive herbarium records.
S22 S26 S62 S63 S1
Rarity Ranks: QC S5 – Secure, ON S5 – Secure
Migration: Stable
Ecological Context: Characteristic of rich mesic deciduous and mixed forests, typically in sugar maple-dominated stands, hemlock-hardwoods, and floodplain forests. Frequently found in moist hollows, cedar swamps, bog borders, and along stream banks on humus-rich soils. In the Outaouais, herbarium specimens are documented from sugar maple-yellow birch-hemlock forests and sugar maple forests with conifer understory.
S7 S12 S48

✅ Edible

Foraging Notes: Cherokee parboiled the leaves and stems, mixed with other greens, rinsed and fried with grease and salt until soft. A traditional vegetable preparation, not a widely known edible.
S28 S61