VIOLACEAE

The Violet family

Christy Hetzel

Violaceae is a member of the Parietals order

(this is the Viola pedata, a common violet in North America)

The sweetness of the violet's deep blue eyes,

Kissed by the breath of heaven, seems color'd by its skies

- Byron *

With the exception of Hybanthus, the genus Viola makes up the family violaceae in North America.  Violaceae are low-growing herbs ethat come either stemless or with leafy stems. In the stemless variety the leaves and flowers arise directly from the rootstock.  The floers have five sepals, five stamens, five petals and one pistil.  The lowermost petal is usually spurred and longer than the others.  According to Lawrence, this family contains 15 genera and 850 species.

 

SPECIES LIST

The species listed here can be found in the South-Eastern part of the United States

     Scientific Name                                 Common Name                            

  1. V. affinis                                       violet 

  2. V. arvensis                                   wild pansy  

  3. V. blanda                                     sweet white violet

  4. V. brittoniana                                  

  5. V. rotundifolia                              early yellow violet

  6. V. canadensis                              Canada, summer, and tall white violet

  7. V. conspera 

  8. V. cucullata                                  marsh blue and meadow violet

  9. V. emarginata                                 

  10. V. fimbriatula                                    

  11. V. floridana                                      

  12. V. hastata                                    halberd-leaved yellow violet

  13. V. hirstula                                           

  14. V. incognita                                          

  15. V. lanceolata                                bog white and lance-leaved violet  

  16. V. langloisii                                         

  17. V. lovelliana                                          

  18. V. missouriensis                           missouri violet

  19. V. odorata                                   Sweet violet   

  20. V. palmata                                    

  21. V. papilionacea                            wood violet

  22. V. pedata                                     bird's-foot violet

  23. V. pensylvania                              smooth yellow violet

  24. V. primulfolia                                primrose-leaved violet

  25. V. pubesens                                  yellow violet

  26. V. rafinesquii                                 johnny-jump-up

  27. V. reinfolia                      

  28. V. rostrata                                     long-spurred violet

  29. V. rotundifolia                                early yellow violet          

  30. V. sagittata                                    arrow-leaved violet

  31. V. septemloba

  32. V. septentrionalis                                           

  33. V. sororia

  34. V. striata                                   woolly blue and cream violet             

  35. V. tricolor    

  36. V. triloba                                           

  37. V. tripartitata                                              

  38. V. villosa                                      southern downy violet

  39. V. walteri

* This list was compiled from  Rickett and the Ga Plant List.

   

Identification Guide

This information is taken from Wild Flowers

I. Stemless; the leaves and scapes directly from a rootstock or from runners

   Petals bright yellow; leaves orbicular....................................................................................................1  V. rotundifolia

   Petals violet, purple or white

           Cleistogamous flowers wanting; petals all beardless; leaves divided......................................................2 V. pedata

           Cleistogamous flowers present, at least later in the season

                  Rootstock thick, often stout, without stolons; lateral petals bearded

                          Cleistogamous flowers ovid on short prostrate peduncles; their capsules mostly purplish

                                 Leaves except rarely the earliest, palmately five- to eleven-lobed or parted; foliage villous-pubescent

                                        Leaf lobes blunt, lateral ones broad......................................................................3 V. palmata 

                                        Leaf lobes acuminate, lateral ones linear.............................................................4 V. perpensa   

                                 Early and late leaves uncut; others three- to seven-lobed or parted ................................5 V. triloba

                                 Leaves all uncut; blades ovate to reinform, cordate, crenatesserrate

                                          Plants nearly or quite gabrous; peatls violet-purple; seeds brown

                                                 Petioles smooth; plants of moist soil......................................................6 V. papilionacea

                                                 Petioles glandular roughened; plants of dry soil...........................................7 V. latiuscula

                                         Leaves very hairy, especially beneath and on the petioles; seeds dark brown..........8 V. sororia

                                         Leaves hirsutulous above, otherwise smooth; seeds buff.......................................9 V. hirsutula

                        Cleistogamous flowers ovid on ascending peduncles, soon elongated.  

                               Leaves pubescent beneath and on the petioles; sepals and their auricles ciliolate; blades broadly                                           ovate, cordate................................................................................................10 V. septentrionalis

                               Leaves glabrous beneath and on the petioles...................................................................11 V. affinis

                         Cleistogamous flowers on erect peduncles, their capsules green

                               Leaves broadly ovate, blunt at apex; sepals obtuse

                                      Cleistogamous flowers ovoid; spurred petal villous.........................................12 V. nephrophylla

                                      Cleistogamous flowers long and slender, spurred peatl glabrous..........................13 V. cucullata 

                               Leaves lobed or on the margins sharply incised or toothed toward the subcordate or truncate base;                                       spurred peatl villous, lateral ones with capillary beard

                                       Blade of the mature leaves ovate-oblong, ciliate, finely pubescent; petioles short.........................

                                                                                                                                                              14 V. fimbriatula

                                       Blade of the mature leaves lanceolate, usually smooth; petioles long......................15 V. sagittata

                                       Blade of the mature leaves broadly ovate or deltoid

                                             Margin coarsely toothed near the base; blades sometimes lobed................16 V. emarginata

                                             Margin sharply toothed toward the base and more or less pectinately incised........................

                                                                                                                                                                17 V. pectinata

                                       Blade of the mature leaves primarily three-lobed or three-parted, the segments two to three-cleft                                        into linear or oblaneonal lobes..........................................................................18 V. brittoniana

                   Rootstock slender (or thicker and scaly with age); plants usually from stolons          

                            Petals pale violet; leaves minutely hairy on the upper surface; spur large, 3 lines long.........19 V. selkirkii

                            Petals white, with dark purple lines on the lower three

                                   Cleistogamous capsules ovoid, usually purplish; woodland plants

                                         Leaves reiniform. lateral petals beardless; stolons short.......................................20 V. renifolia

                                         Leaves broadly ovate, acute; lateral petals bearded; seeds obtuse at the base....21 V. incognita

                                         Leaves ovate, acute , or acuminate; lateral petals beardless; seeds acute at base...22 V. blanda

                                   Cleistogamous capsules ellipsoid; always green; peduncles erata bog and wet meadow species

                                          Leaves broadly ovate or orbicular, cordate, obtuse.............................................23 V. pallens

                                          Leaves oblong to ovate, the base slightly cordate to tapering ........................24 V. primulifloia

                                          Leaves lanceolate to elliptical.........................................................................25 V. lanceolata

II.  Leafy-stemmed; the flowers axillary

        Style capitate, beakless, bearded near the summit, spur short; stipules nearly entire, soon scarious

              Petals yellow

                    Sparingly pubescent; root-leaves usually one to three............................................................26 V. eriocarpa                     Markedly pubescent; root-leaves usaully wanting................................................................27 V. pubescens

              Inner face of the petals white with yellow base, outer face usually violet; leaves usaully broadly ovate, acuminate,               sublabrous...............................................................................................................................28 V. canadensis

       Style not capiate, spur long; stipules bristly tooothed, herbaceous

             Spur 2 to4  lines long; lateral petals bearded; styles bent at tip, with short beard

                     Petals white or cream colored.................................................................................................29 V. striata 

                     Petals violet-blue

                            Herbage glabrous or nearly so; leaves orbicular or suborbicular

                                   Stipules ovate-lanceolate, brisly serrate; leaves often 1 3/4 inches wide...................30 V. conspera

                                   Stipules linear, entire except at base; leaves not over three-fourths of an inch wide; alpine...............                                                                                                                                                            31  V. labradorica

                            Herbage puberulent; stems ascending; blades mostly ovate ..............................................32 V. adunca

            Spur 4 to 6 lines long, lateral petals beardless; style straight and smooth...........................................33 V. rostrata

       Style much enlarged upward into a globose, hollow summit; stipules large, leaflike, pectinate at base; upper leaves                 and middle lobe of stipules entire or nearly so; dry sandy places.....................................................34 V. rafinesquii

       

         


General Information

In some groups, allied species frequently hybidize when growing togther.  These hybrids usually display characteristics intermediate between those of the two parent plants.  They have increased vegatative strength but decreased fertility capabiliites.  Throughout succeeding generations, the plants revert back to the characters of the two original species.  The two main cultivated species are viloa odorata (english, marsh, or sweet violet) and viola triclor (pansy or heartsease).  The Garden Pansy is the result of the hybridization of crosses of viola tricolor and allied species of the Old World.  120 species of violets are sold for cultivation as a domestic plant in the US.

For more information, see: http://homearts.com/cl/garden/03violf1.htm


REFERENCES

Coile, Nancy.  The Georgia Plant List.  UGA Herbarium, Athens.

Coon, Nelson.  The Complete Book of Violets.  A.S. Barnes and Co., Inc, USA.  ISBN  0-498-02110-6

House, Homer J.  Wildflowers.  MacMillian Co, 1934.

Jones, Samuel B.  Checklist of the Vascular Flora of Clarke County, Ga.  UGA Herbarium, Athens.  

Lawrence, George H.  Taxonomy of Vascular Plants.  MacMillian Co, NY.  1951

Rickett, William Harold.  Wild Flowers of the United States.  McGraw- Hill, NY.  vols 1,2,3,4,5, and 6Coile, Nancy.  The Georgia Plant List.  UGA Herbarium, Athens.