Spring Violets

This is a Sweet Violet (Viola odorata). The cold does not prevent it from flowering.






















There is another violet flowering early in march, the Hairy Violet (Viola hirta) you see here.
















They look very much alike. Mostly the Sweet Violet has flowers a bit earlier than the Hairy Violet, but not always. Mostly the former is darker in colour, and the latter slightly hairier, but not always. Leaves and flowers of the Sweet Violet are a bit rounder than those of the Hairy Violet, generally, but not always. The Sweet Violet mostly smells sweet, but is sometimes odorless. The Sweet Violet often has stolons, the other one never has. Most of the time you find the hairy one in slightly drier and sunnier places than the sweet one. Etcetera, etcetera. And there exists also an intermediate form, a crossbreed between the two.

Well, how to distinguish the two? You have to take into account a number of characteristics at the same time, and even then it is easy to be wrong.

But does it really matter?