Viola septemloba Le Conte. Common name: Southern Coastal Violet. Phenology: Chasmogamous flower Feb-May; chasmogamous fruit Apr-Jun; cleistogamous fruit July-Oct. Habitat: Longleaf pine sandhills, other sandy pinelands and secondary habitats derived from them. Distribution: Se. VA south to s. FL, west to LA, mainly on the Coastal Plain.
ID notes: This heterophyllous species is occasionally confused with V. sagittata (another member of the Sagittata group) and homophyllous cut-leaved V. brittoniana; the ranges of these three converge on the Coastal Plain, but the local and regional distributions of V. brittoniana and V. septemloba are virtually non-overlapping. This differs from V. brittoniana in having subsucculent glabrous gray-green foliage, the earliest and latest leaf blades undivided, cut leaf blades mostly pedately divided with the terminal lobe commonly undivided and broader and longer than the other lobes, the chasmogamous peduncle held above the leaves, often larger flower, and larger brownish-black seeds; and from V. sagittata in its subsucculent gray-green foliage, commonly more elongate and more numerous lateral lobes, typically larger flowers, and larger brownish-black seeds.
Origin/Endemic status: Endemic
Synonymy ⓘ: = F, FNA6, G, GW2, K4, NS, POWO, S, W, Ballard () (in prep), Ballard, Kartesz, & Nishino (2023), Gil-Ad (1997); < Viola palmata L. — Fl2, WH3; < Viola palmata L. var. palmata — C; ? Viola septemloba Leconte — Tx; < Viola septemloba Leconte — RAB; > Viola septemloba Leconte — S13; ? Viola septemloba Leconte ssp. septemloba — McKinney & Russell (2002); > Viola vicinalis Greene — S13; Viola septemloba Leconte. Basionym: Viola septemloba Leconte 1826
Links to other floras: = Viola septemloba - FNA6
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Wetland Indicator Status:
- Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plain: FACU (taxonomic lump from wetland indicator species)
- Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plain: FAC (taxonomic lump from wetland indicator species)
- Eastern Mountains and Piedmont: FACU (taxonomic lump from wetland indicator species)
- Eastern Mountains and Piedmont: FACW (taxonomic lump from wetland indicator species)
- Great Plains: FACU (taxonomic split from wetland indicator species)
- Midwest: FACU (taxonomic split from wetland indicator species)
- Northcentral & Northeast: FACU (taxonomic lump from wetland indicator species)
- Northcentral & Northeast: FACW (taxonomic lump from wetland indicator species)
Heliophily ⓘ: 7
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© Alan Cressler: Viola septemloba, Francis Marion National Forest, Berkeley County, South Carolina 1 by Alan Cressler source | Original Image ⭷
© Bruce A. Sorrie | Original Image ⭷
© Jay Horn source | Original Image ⭷
© Keith Bradley | Original Image ⭷
© Radford, Ahles and Bell | Original Image ⭷Feedback
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Horticultural Information
Intro: Low-growing, rhizomatous perennial of sandy, dry or seasonally wet pinelands.
Stems: Stemless, the flowering scapes and leaves arising from a thick, vertical rhizome.
Leaves: Leaves basal, on long petioles with small linear stipules at the base, early leaves round to oval or heart-shaped and mature leaves deeply divided into 3-11 narrow lobes, to 2 in. long, smooth.
Inforescence:
Flowers: Flowers solitary on individual slender scapes, purple with a white throat and darker purple veins, 3/4-1 1/2 in. wide, bilaterally symmetric, with 5 spreading petals, the lower 3 with a patch of hair at the base and the lowermost with a spur extending behind the flower.
Fruits: Fruit an ellipsoid capsule.
Comments: Closed, self-pollinating flowers are present in this Viola species.
Height: 2-10 in.
plant sale text:
bloom table text:
description: Low-growing, rhizomatous perennial of sandy, dry or seasonally wet pinelands.
stems: Stemless, the flowering scapes and leaves arising from a thick, vertical rhizome.
leaves: Leaves basal, on long petioles with small linear stipules at the base, early leaves round to oval or heart-shaped and mature leaves deeply divided into 3-11 narrow lobes, to 2 in. long, smooth.
inflorescence:
flowers: Flowers solitary on individual slender scapes, purple with a white throat and darker purple veins, 3/4-1 1/2 in. wide, bilaterally symmetric, with 5 spreading petals, the lower 3 with a patch of hair at the base and the lowermost with a spur extending behind the flower.
fruits: Fruit an ellipsoid capsule.
comments: Closed, self-pollinating flowers are present in this Viola species.
cultural notes:
germination code:
native range: southeastern United States
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