Prairie violet was first formally named in 1831 by the Scottish botanist George Don (1798–1856).

The specific epithet pedatifida means "palmately divided with cleft segments" in botanical Latin, in reference to the leaves, which look like a bird's foot with the outer toes again parted.

It is an acaulescent violet, meaning it lacks leaves on the flowering stems.

The flowers are light violet, the lower three petals white near the base, usually with some hairs.

[5][6] Viola pedatifida is native broadly across the central United States and south-central Canada, from Alberta to Ontario, south to Arkansas, west to New Mexico.