This is the right time of the year to look for small violets. Normally they are blue, but sometimes you find white ones. Yes, this happens, sometimes a Sweet violet has flowers that are white instead of blue (see also
Spring violets). But the plant here below grows on dry and loamy soil, in the midst of a not frequently used track in a hornbeam-oak forest. It is the typical habitat of another species, the White Violet (
Viola alba).
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhn8dMfIoiQlW8RfkzLoiSz8mLaEfDuAtXIXsrKtbV3RxNoDKMJWAnq27jZyFqPKRL750hY7QlL1CyJp45E1V3RycFIo1GIkIo4mDtsftFqasTNa_sKZTZuTMmQBZIuV4SmEGlDi8ym0_0-/s400/viola+alba-132716za-600s-8.jpg)
Small morphological details also show it is a species on its own. But you need a magnifying glass to see them.
Two metres away on the same track grows a variety of the White Violet
with darker leaves and a purple spur. Let us call it the Dark-leaved
Violet (
Viola alba ssp scotophylla).
In the foreground you notice some purple-veined leaves of last year. Under the flower new leaves are developing.