Banafsha / Mountain Violet
Viola betonicifolia
- Habit
- Herb
- Found in India
- Uttarakhand, Arunachal Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh & more
- Flowering
- July-March
How to identify Banafsha
Identify Banafsha by combining habit, leaf characters, flower or fruit details, location, and its family pattern. Do not rely on one feature alone.
- Look for a herb habit.
- Check the distinctive field mark: Found in mountain meadows.
- Confirm leaf shape: Sagittate.
- Confirm flower colour: Purple.
- In season, compare flowering and fruiting time: July-March.
- In India, compare location records such as Uttarakhand, Arunachal Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir and nearby regions.
- Confirm it sits within the Violaceae family pattern, then compare close relatives before deciding it is Banafsha.
Plant Details
- Scientific name
- Viola betonicifolia
- Genus
- Viola
- Family
- Violaceae
- Habit
- Herb
- Habitat
- Dry deciduous forests, grasslands, river banks and damp grounds
- Distribution
- India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Australia
- Found in India
- Uttarakhand, Arunachal Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Karnataka, Nagaland
- Flowering & fruiting
- July-March
- Conservation status
- Not Evaluated (NE)
Leaf characters
- Leaf shape
- SagittaterecordedArrowhead-shaped, with pointed backward-facing lobes at the base.“This species is distinguished by long, slender arrow-shaped leaves that grow from the base of the plant, which has no stem as such, and are up to 6 cm (2.5 in) long with a v-shaped” — Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0
Typical of the family
Characters marked “recorded” are for Banafsha itself; the rest are typical of the Violaceae family.
Flower & fruit characters
- Flower colour
- PurplerecordedPurple or violet
Typical of the family
- Flower symmetry
- Zygomorphic (bilaterally symmetrical)
- Inflorescence
- Panicle
- Fruit
- Capsule
Characters marked “recorded” are for Banafsha itself; the rest are typical of the Violaceae family — flowering plants only.
Local Names
- Hindi
- बनफ्शा Banafsha
- Bengali
- বনফ্শা Banaphsha
- Kannada
- ಬೆಟ್ಟ ವಯೋಲಾ Betta Vayola
About Banafsha
Mountain Violet (Viola betonicifolia) belongs to the Violaceae family, where it grows as a herb. In India it has been recorded in Uttarakhand, Arunachal Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh and 3 other states. It grows in dry deciduous forests, grasslands, river banks and damp grounds. Flowering and fruiting run from July to March.
Violaceae
Violet Family
Banafsha belongs to the Violaceae family.
The illustration represents the family — not necessarily this exact species.
Explore the Violaceae familySnap it. Know it.
Point your camera at Banafsha or any plant and SASYA identifies it instantly — on-device, offline, and private.
Common plant problems
If you are starting from symptoms instead of a diagnosis, use the plant disease symptom checker to narrow the cause before treating.
All plant problem & care guides