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Viola elatior, the fen violet, is a species of violet native to central and northern Europe and northern Asia. In the British Isles it is very rare, occurring in a few fens in England and near the western coast of Ireland.
The violet is also known as viola persicifolia and viola stagnina.
The plant is fussy about where it grows; seeds germinates in the spring on moist bare patches of base-rich peaty soil, but the seedlings only become established if the soil surface becomes drier. Most seeds germinate in close proximity to the parent plant so dispersal is limited. Habitat disturbance may cause the violet to disappear from a former habitat, but the seeds are very long-lived and new plants sometimes appear many years later.
In the British Isles, it is rare, confined to eastern and northern England and damp hollows with limestone in western Ireland. Efforts are being made to re-introduce it to newly suitable habitat in the Fens as part of the Great Fen Project. It occurs at a few locations in Northern Ireland, on rocky limestone lake shores around Upper Lough Erne and in turloughs or ephemeral pools around Fardrum, in County Fermanagh, and because of its rarity there, it is listed as a Northern Ireland Priority Species.
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