Viola monacanora J.L. Hastings & H.E. Ballard. Section: Nosphinium. Subsection: Borealiamericanae. Monacan Violet. Phen: Chasmogamous flower Apr-May; chasmogamous fruit May-Jun; cleistogamous Hab: Rocky loam soils at moderate elevations. Dist: Endemic to Blue Ridge mountains and upper Piedmont of VA and nw. NC.

ID notes:This new species of homophyllous cut-leaved violet shares deeply biternately divided leaf blades with V. baxteri, V. brittoniana, V. pedatifida, and V. subsinuata. It is most similar to V. baxteri and V. subsinuata, two other members of the Subsinuata species group in subsect. Borealiamericanae, in its glabrous spurred petal and purple-spotted cleistogamous capsule produced on an initially prostrate peduncle. However, it diverges from both in its glabrous or essentially glabrous foliage, falcate and sharply asymmetrically angulate lobes, eciliate lance- to ovate-triangular acute or acuminate sepals, blackish seeds with minute raised black reticulations, and restriction to rocky woodlands in the Blue Ridge and adjacent Piedmont.

Origin/Endemic status: Endemic

Taxonomy Comments: Recently distinguished from other members of the Viola subsinuata complex, distinctive in leaf, flower, and seed traits.

Synonymy: = Ballard, Kartesz, & Nishino (2023); Viola species 4 ["monacanora"]; < Viola ×subsinuata Greene – K4; < Viola subsinuata Greene – FNA6

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Wetland Indicator Status:

• Eastern Mountains and Piedmont: FACU (taxonomic split 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 split from wetland indicator species)