Viola hirsutula Brainerd. Section: Nosphinium. Subsection: Borealiamericanae. Common name: Wood Violet, Southern Woodland Violet. Phenology: Chasmogamous flower Feb-May; chasmogamous fruit May; cleistogamous fruit May-Aug. Habitat: Bottomlands, moist slopes, dry forests and clearings. Distribution: CT, NY, PA, OH, and s. IN, south to Panhandle FL, AL, and MS.
ID notes: This species is distinctive in its spreading to prostrate leaves, the upper surface bicolorous (‘‘variegated’’) with the silvery-green leaf blade divided by deep green or red-purple veins and beset with erect hispid hairs. The lower leaf surface is often purple. On the basis of the relatively short broad variegated leaves alone, it could be misidentified as V. walteri (which is mat-forming by node-rooting stolons) or the acaulescent southern V. villosa, but the foliage and peduncle are glabrous except for the small hispid hairs on the upper leaf blade surface.
Origin/Endemic status: Native
Synonymy ⓘ: = F, FNA6, G, K4, NE, NS, Pa, POWO, RAB, S, S13, Tat, Tn, Va, W, WV, Ballard () (in prep), Ballard, Kartesz, & Nishino (2023), Haines (2001), McKinney & Russell (2002); < Viola sororia Willd. — Fl2; < Viola villosa Walter — C. Basionym: Viola hirsutula Brainerd 1907
Links to other floras: = Viola hirsutula - FNA6
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Wetland Indicator Status:
- Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plain: FACU
- Eastern Mountains and Piedmont: FACU
- Midwest: FACU
- Northcentral & Northeast: FACU
Heliophily ⓘ: 5
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© Armin Weise CC-BY | Original Image ⭷
© Bruce A. Sorrie | Original Image ⭷
© Bruce A. Sorrie | Original Image ⭷
© Richard & Teresa Ware CC-BY-NC, permission granted to NCBG | Original Image ⭷
© Gary P. Fleming | Original Image ⭷
© Bruce A. Sorrie | Original Image ⭷Feedback
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Horticultural Information
Intro: Low-growing, rhizomatous perennial of bottomlands, moist slopes, dry forests and clearings.
Stems: Stemless, the flowering scapes and leaves arising from a thick, fleshy rhizome.
Leaves: Leaves basal; on petioles with narrowly triangular, fringed stipules; oval to round with a broad heart-shaped base; to 4 3/4 in. long; margins toothed or smooth; upper surface with silvery-hairy patches and often purple beneath.
Inforescence:
Flowers: Flowers solitary on individual scapes, violet, 1-1 3/4 in. wide, bilaterally symmetric, with 5 petals; the 3 lower petals are white-throated and bear violet veins, and of these the 2 lateral ones are bearded and the lowermost has a backward-pointing spur.
Fruits: Fruit an oval capsule.
Comments:
Height: 1-8 in.
plant sale text:
bloom table text:
description: Low-growing, rhizomatous perennial of bottomlands, moist slopes, dry forests and clearings.
stems: Stemless, the flowering scapes and leaves arising from a thick, fleshy rhizome.
leaves: Leaves basal; on petioles with narrowly triangular, fringed stipules; oval to round with a broad heart-shaped base; to 4 3/4 in. long; margins toothed or smooth; upper surface with silvery-hairy patches and often purple beneath.
inflorescence:
flowers: Flowers solitary on individual scapes, violet, 1-1 3/4 in. wide, bilaterally symmetric, with 5 petals; the 3 lower petals are white-throated and bear violet veins, and of these the 2 lateral ones are bearded and the lowermost has a backward-pointing spur.
fruits: Fruit an oval capsule.
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cultural notes:
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