Viola reichenbachiana, the Early Dog-violet, is a violet. Viola is a genus of flowering plants in the violet family Violaceae, with around 400 500 species distributed around the world. Most species are found in the temperate Northern Hemisphere; however, viola species (commonly called violets, pansies or heartsease) are also found in widely divergent areas such as Hawaii, Australasia, and the Andes in South America.