Viola bakeri
Viola brittoniana
Baker's violet, yellow prairie violet
coast violet, coastal violet, northern coastal violet
1–4, usually erect, sometimes prostrate or decumbent, leafy proximally and distally, usually puberulent, from usually vertical, subligneous rhizome.
basal and cauline;
basal: 1–4;
stipules adnate to petiole, forming 2 linear-lanceolate wings, margins entire, apex of each wing free, acute to acuminate;
petiole 1–15.4 cm, glabrous or puberulent;
blade lanceolate, oblanceolate, or elliptic, rarely ovate, 1.8–8.8 × 0.7–3.9 cm, thin, base attenuate, often oblique, margins usually entire, sometimes with a few sharp teeth or crenulate, ciliate, apex acute to obtuse, mucronulate, surfaces glabrous or puberulent on margins or veins;
cauline similar to basal except: stipules ovate to lanceolate, margins entire or lacerate, sometimes with glandular projections, apex with 2–3 projections;
petiole 1.5–7.5 cm;
blade 1.9–6.7 × 0.5–1.6 cm.
basal, 5–9, ascending to erect, 5–9-lobed;
stipules linear-lanceolate, margins entire, apex obtuse;
petiole 3–16 cm, usually glabrous;
mid-season blades incised or lobed throughout, earliest blades lobed (plants homophyllous), similar to mid-season blades, middle and lateral blade lobes differ in width and/or shape, middle lobes lanceolate or spatulate to narrowly obovate, lateral lobes lanceolate or spatulate to falcate (each sometimes with deltate to falcate appendages or teeth along margins), 1–7 × 2–8 cm, base truncate to cordate, margins entire, ciliate, apex acute to obtuse, surfaces usually glabrous, rarely with a few strigose, hairs concentrated on veins.
1.5–11.6 cm, glabrous or pubescent.
5–18 cm, usually glabrous.
sepals lanceolate, margins eciliate, auricles 0.5–1 mm;
petals deep lemon-yellow adaxially, upper 2 often brownish purple abaxially, lower 3 dark brown- to brownish purple-veined, lateral 2 sparsely bearded, lowest 6–14 mm, spur yellow, gibbous, 1–2 mm;
style head bearded; cleistogamous flowers axillary.
sepals lanceolate to ovate, margins ciliate or eciliate, auricles 2–3 mm;
petals light to soft reddish violet on both surfaces, lower 3 white basally, dark violet-veined, lateral 2 bearded, lowest 10–25 mm, sometimes bearded, spur same color as petals, gibbous, 2–3 mm;
style head beardless; cleistogamous flowers on ascending to erect peduncles.
spherical to ovoid, 5–10 mm, usually glabrous, rarely finely puberulent.
ellipsoid, 10–15 mm, glabrous.
light to medium brown or dark red-brown, 2.6–3.1 mm, elaiosome not covering funiculus.
beige, mottled to bronze, 1.5–2.5 mm.
= 48.
= 54.
Viola bakeri
Viola brittoniana
M. S. Baker (1957) wrote that Viola bakeri flowers were often without a brownish tinge on the back. Subsequent collections have shown that the upper two petals of V. bakeri are often brownish purple abaxially and thus this characteristic cannot be used to distinguish V. bakeri from V. praemorsa, as previously done (P. A. Munz 1959; C. L. Hitchcock et al. 1955–1969, vol. 3).
Greene wrote in his description of Viola bakeri that the whole plant was glabrous; he did not mention leaf margins. M. S. Baker (1957) examined the type specimen at UC and apparently was the first to document that its leaf margins are entire. He also noted that under magnification the leaves are ciliate and more or less puberulent. D. M. Fabijan et al. (1987) stated that margins were always entire and ciliate and more or less pubescent throughout. Some collections of V. bakeri
from California have leaves with a sharp point or two on the margin, or crenulations on some portion of the basal or cauline blade margins.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Britton considered Viola brittoniana similar to V. pedatifida, apparently making him the first to recognize their affinity. Both are homophyllous and similar in other characters (L. E. McKinney 1992). McKinney recognized V. brittoniana as a variety of V. pedatifida. Additional evidence (N. L. Gil-Ad 1997; A. Haines 2011) suggests that these taxa are sufficiently distinct to continue recognition as separate species.
Viola pectinata has sharply dentate leaves and is closely related to V. brittoniana, usually occurring with it. N. L. Gil-Ad (1997) made a convincing argument to recognize it as a form; A. Haines (2011) recognized it as a species. Others have considered it to be a sporadic form that may be of hybrid origin, or, as N. H. Russell (1965) suggested, is due to genetic dimorphism. We are reserving a decision on treating this taxon until additional studies are completed.
A. Haines (2011) reported that the distribution of Viola brittoniana in Maine is actually based on the hybrid V. ×insolita House (V. brittoniana × V. sororia).
Viola brittoniana reportedly hybridizes with V. cucullata (= V. ×notabilis E. P. Bicknell), V. sagittata var. sagittata (= V. ×mulfordiae Pollard), and V. sororia (= V. ×insolita).
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
CA
OR
Flora NW
PNW Herbaria
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist
USDA Plants Database
Go Botany
MD Biodiversity
