Flower:

A single white flower at the end of a hairless, leafless stem that usually rises above the leaves. Flowers are ¼ to 3/8 inch across with purple lines on the lower petal and may have a few hairs (beard) at the base of the side petals, but is mostly hairless. The lower petal ends in a short spur at the back. Petal-less, self-pollinating (cleistogamous) flowers develop after the white flowers finish blooming.

Leaves:

Leaves are all basal, up to about 1 inch long at flowering time and rarely grow longer than 1½ inches long and wide at maturity. Leaves are round or kidney to somewhat heart-shaped, hairless, with a rounded or blunt tip and shallow teeth around the edges. Leaf stalks are mostly hairless though may have a few sparse hairs. Plants spread vegetatively via creeping rhizomes with stolons (prostrate stems) and may create sizable colonies.

Fruit:

Fruit is a green, oval capsule that splits into 3 sections, containing numerous brown to black seeds.

Notes:

There is more than one species of white violet native to Minnesota. Distinguishing features are whether the flowering stems have leaves, whether the petals are bearded, the hairiness of leaves and stems, and the flower size. Small White Violet has no stem leaves, is mostly beardless, is otherwise hairless, and has the smallest flowers of all the white violets in Minnesota.