Canada Violet - Viola canadensis
Trail 79 - South of McKnight Mountain
Black Range, New Mexico, USA
Behold the common ubiquitous violet and know that the phrasing is not redundant. In grouping all violets together I get to the matter of a lack of redundancy. Violets are as common as the grains of sand in our desert landscape, they really are ubiquitous - especially when you get a bit higher in elevation. For that reason, they are sometimes relegated to the second class of the plant world, they lack class, they lack refinement, they are a boor, they are “common” - they must be, for how could something so ubiquitous possess those higher traits?
The Canada Violet, Viola canadensis, pictured here was photographed along Trail 79 just south of McKnight Mountain, near the crest of the Black Range. Although maddening at times because they are difficult to key, I love these common (prevalent) little flowers. (I even like the fact that like Canada Geese, they are not Canadian because Canada is bilingual.)
There are four sub-species of Canada Violet, by range this is probably V. c. rugulosa or V. c. scopulorum. The other common violet of this area is the Streamback Violet, Viola nephrophylla, which is purple.
