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Violaceae
Viola

not marked as a favorite taxon Viola primulifolia Linnaeus. Common name: Primrose-leaf Violet. Phenology: Chasmogamous flower Dec-Jun; chasmogamous fruit Jan-Jun; cleistogamous Habitat: Bogs, wet savannas, pocosins, sandhill streamhead ecotones, moist organic soils along small streams. Distribution: NL (Newfoundland) to ON, south to s. FL, and west to TX and se. OK.

Glossary (beta!)

Section: Plagiostigma. Subsection: Stolonosae.

ID notes: This species is sufficiently distinct in leaf morphology that it is likely to be confused only with two other long-leaved species in subsect. Stolonosae. It differs most obviously from V. lanceolata and V. vittata, with which it occasionally grows and hybridizes, in its proportionally and physically broader leaf blades with broadly cuneate to shallowly cordate base. Its foliage is occasionally hirtellous, especially in populations in the middle and southern portions of its range, providing an additional difference from V. lanceolata, and produces leafy summer stolons with cleistogamous capsules, differing further from V. vittata. It might be mistaken for V. blanda, but its leaves are erect, the basal lobes on plants with subcordate or shallowly cordate leaf blades are extremely short and divergent, pubescence (if present) is not confined to the upper surface of the leaf blades, and the unspotted cleistogamous capsule sits on a tall erect peduncle.

Origin/Endemic status: Native

Synonymy ⓘ: = Ar, C, Fl2, GW2, Il, K4, NE, NS, Pa, RAB, S, S13, Tat, Tn, Tx, Va, W, WH3, WV, Ballard () (in prep), Ballard, Kartesz, & Nishino (2023), Haines (2001), McKinney & Russell (2002); = Viola ×primulifolia L. (pro sp.); = Viola primulifolia L. var. primulifolia — FNA6, POWO; > Viola primulifolia L. var. acuta (Bigelow) Torr. & A.Gray — F; > Viola primulifolia L. var. primulifolia — F, G; > Viola primulifolia L. var. villosa Eaton — F, G. Basionym: Viola primulifolia L. 1790

Links to other floras: = Viola primulifolia var. primulifolia - FNA6

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Wetland Indicator Status:

  • Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plain: FACW
  • Eastern Mountains and Piedmont: FAC
  • Great Plains: FAC
  • Midwest: FACW
  • Northcentral & Northeast: FACW

Heliophily ⓘ: 5

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image #1 of Viola primulifolia© Jim Fowler | Original Image ⭷
image #2 of Viola primulifolia© Floyd A. Griffith | Original Image ⭷
image #3 of Viola primulifolia© Bruce A. Sorrie | Original Image ⭷
image #4 of Viola primulifolia© Erik Danielson source | Original Image ⭷
image #6 of Viola primulifolia© Alan Cressler: Viola primulifolia, The Blue Sky Preserve, Chatham County, Georgia 1 by Alan Cressler source | Original Image ⭷
image #8 of Viola primulifolia© Duke Herbarium staff | Original Image ⭷
image #10 of Viola primulifolia© Richard & Teresa Ware CC-BY-NC, permission granted to NCBG | Original Image ⭷
image #11 of Viola primulifolia© Armin Weise CC-BY | Original Image ⭷
image #14 of Viola primulifolia© Richard & Teresa Ware CC-BY-NC, permission granted to NCBG | Original Image ⭷
image #16 of Viola primulifolia© Edwin Bridges | Original Image ⭷
image #18 of Viola primulifolia© Bruce A. Sorrie | Original Image ⭷
image #19 of Viola primulifolia© Armin Weise CC-BY | Original Image ⭷

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Horticultural Information

NCBG trait

Intro: Erect, creeping perennial of bogs, wet savannas, pocosins and moist organic soils along small streams.

Stems: Stemless; underground, horizontal rhizomes produce numerous stolons that terminate in crowns of leaves.

Leaves: Leaves basal; petiolate, often with the tapering base of the blade continuing as petiole wings and with linear stipules at the base of the petiole; elliptic-oblong to oval; ½-4 in. long; entire or shallowly toothed; smooth or hairy.

Inforescence:

Flowers: Flowers solitary on slender, smooth stalks arising from leaf crown; white with purple lines on lower petal(s); about â…“ in. wide; bilaterally symmetric; consisting of 5 unequal petals, the lowest one with a backward-pointing spur.

Fruits: Fruit a green, narrowly oval capsule.

Comments: Closed, self-pollinating flowers are present in this Viola species.

Height: 2-10 in.

plant sale text:

bloom table text:

description: Erect, creeping perennial of bogs, wet savannas, pocosins and moist organic soils along small streams.

stems: Stemless; underground, horizontal rhizomes produce numerous stolons that terminate in crowns of leaves.

leaves: Leaves basal; petiolate, often with the tapering base of the blade continuing as petiole wings and with linear stipules at the base of the petiole; elliptic-oblong to oval; ½-4 in. long; entire or shallowly toothed; smooth or hairy.

inflorescence:

flowers: Flowers solitary on slender, smooth stalks arising from leaf crown; white with purple lines on lower petal(s); about â…“ in. wide; bilaterally symmetric; consisting of 5 unequal petals, the lowest one with a backward-pointing spur.

fruits: Fruit a green, narrowly oval capsule.

comments: Closed, self-pollinating flowers are present in this Viola species.

cultural notes:

germination code:

native range: eastern North America



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