bird's-foot violet

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bird's-foot violet

also bird·foot violet (bûrd′fo͝ot′)

An eastern North American violet (Viola pedata) having blue or purple flowers and palmately divided leaves that resemble a bird's foot.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

bird's′-foot` vi′olet

a violet, Viola pedata, of the E and midwestern U.S., having single flowers with a yellow center, two purple upper petals, and three lavender lower petals.

[1830–40, Amer.]

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Noun

bird's-foot violet - common violet of the eastern United States with large pale blue or purple flowers resembling pansies

pansy violet, Viola pedata, wood violet, Johnny-jump-up

violet - any of numerous low-growing violas with small flowers

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References in periodicals archive ?

Viola pedata Bird's-foot Violet flowers March-June, deeply cut leaves, dry forests and clearings

Viola Sororia, Selected Plants of CARE

Along the way, like a royal carpet welcoming me, were lady slippers, star flowers, bluet, gay wings, bird's-foot violets, jack-in-the-pulpits, azaleas, geraniums and lilies of the valley.