Acaulescent, with slender creeping rhizomes, and producing leafy stolons after anthesis; lvs variously hairy or glabrous, oblong to ovate or obovate, finely crenate, obtuse or rounded at the tip, rounded to truncate or cuneate at base, mostly 1.5-2.5 times as long as wide; peduncles shorter to longer than the lvs; pet white, the 3 lower with brown-purple veins near the base, the 2 lateral ones beardless or slightly bearded; cleistogamous fls on short, erect peduncles; frs oblong-ellipsoid, 7-10 mm; seeds reddish-brown to black; 2n=24. Moist, open meadows and stream-banks, especially in sandy soil; N.B. to Fla., w. to Ind., Tenn., Okla., and Tex., more common eastward. Apr.-June.
Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.