The characteristic mottled leaves (shades of green and reddish) make the genus easily recognizable vegetatively. Both species flower in April and May, the leaves withering soon afterward, so that by mid-summer there is no trace above ground of plants that may have carpeted an area in the spring.

Although these plants are not true violets of any sort, the common name dogtooth-violet is in wide use, derived from the European species, E. dens-canis L.

1. Flowers white.

E. albidum

1. Flowers yellow.

E. americanum