Easily mistaken for : Hairy Violet (Viola hirta) but that has slightly longer leaves, hairs that stick outwards at right-angles, does not smell (not conclusive proof), and is an annual and lacks runners.

Hybridizes with : Hairy Violet (Viola hirta) to produce Viola × scabra (perhaps the mutant shown above is of this hybrid - although neither parent has pointed sepals nor Spock-like 'ears').

Flowering earlier than all other violets it is a perennial which prefers to grow in open woodland, or on hedgebanks and scrub especially on lime-rich soils. It is a native, and is often found growing natively in churchyards but is also a garden flower (where the petals are longer and narrower and distinctly purple rather than dark mauve-blue. It is also commonly found in white but always with a dark mauve-blue spur. The leaves and the flowers all radiate out from a central point for each patch.