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The "Ainu-tachitsubo-sumire" (Viola sacchalinensis) belongs to Violaceae (the Viola family). It is a perennial herb that is distributed in Hokkaido, Aomori and Nagano prefectures of Honshu in Japan, and Sakhalin to the Kamchatka Peninsula, the northern Korean Peninsula, northeastern China, and Siberia. It grows on grasslands in the mountains and can reach 10 to 20 cm in height. The leaves are cordate to ovate, and the base is shallow cordate. From May to July, the flower stalks are extended and the pale purple to purple-red flowers come in bloom. The base of the lateral petals are hairy and the spur is white. There is also a green streak on the back of the spur. It is closely related to "Ezono-tachitsubo-sumire" (Viola acuminata). It is called "庫葉菫菜" (ku ye jin cai) in Chinese.
In Korean, it is called "wae-chol-pang-chie-bi-kkotsu" (왜졸방제비꽃). This is a compound word formed from "small" (wae: 왜)" and "tachitsubo-sumire" (chol-pang-chie-bi-kkotsu: 졸방제비꽃). By the way, "violet" is "chie-bi-kkotsu" (제비꽃) in Korean.
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