Identify purple flowers?

Each plant is less than an inch tall. Each leaf and each flower is less than a quarter inch in diameter. The flowers are bright light purple. They grow by the millions among ordinary grass. If you pluck one, you don't get much of a stem, because there are leaves all up and down the stem. There are about twice as many leaves as flowers, but the overall impression is of light purple blue flowers rather than green leaves, because the flowers stand out more. These flowers grow very close together, in big patches, giving an impression of light purple fabric.





They grow a few miles south of the Ohio river in west central Kentucky.





I haven't been in this area before, so I don't know how common these flowers are. I might be surrounded by a million people who know the name of these flowers, and I might be the only one who doesn't.





The petals have small dark purple markings, covering only a small fraction of the face of the petal, so the overall color is still light purple.

Identify purple flowers?
Dilbert, It sounds a lot like the wild violet. I live in the area you mentioned and they are very common here. I guess that they are pretty much a weed, but more like wild flowers to me. Some people try pretty hard to get rid of them, but I don't see that they cause much problem.


Wild violet is a winter perennial, growing 2 - 5 inches tall. It can have a tap root or a fibrous root system, and also can produce rooting stolons and rhizomes. The leaves can vary but usually are heart shaped, on long petioles with scalloped to shallow rounded margins.


The flowers of wild violet range from white to blue to purple and appear from March to June. Wild violet flowers are pansy-like with three lower petals and two lateral petals on long single flower stalks.


Wild violets are found throughout the United States, except for the Rocky Mountains. Wild violets are more common where they are sold as ornamental ground covers.


This link has a picture, but I haven't found a good one. They come in different colors, but the ones we have are a darker purple or violet.
Reply:I think(?) from your description it may be a bluet. (sometimes called quaker ladies)


Here is a link to check out the flower I think it is:


(close up) http://www.hiltonpond.org/images/Bluets0...





and here's a patch of them: http://trailquest.net/bluets.JPG





Are these what you mean?