Viola bakeri
Viola walteri
Baker's violet, yellow prairie violet
prostrate blue violet
1–4, usually erect, sometimes prostrate or decumbent, leafy proximally and distally, usually puberulent, from usually vertical, subligneous rhizome.
1–5, prostrate, spreading, finely puberulent, from current and/or previous year’s growth, on usually vertical, fleshy rhizome, rooting and forming rosettes at or near tip; rooted rosettes often develop into an erect, fleshy caudex from which new stems are produced.
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 and cauline;
basal: 3–6;
stipules lanceolate, margins laciniate, projections often long-filamentous, apex long-acuminate;
petiole 2.3–7.3 cm, glabrous or pubescent;
blade often purple-spotted abaxially and/or adaxially, ovate to reniform, 1.2–5 × 1.6–3.6 cm, base deeply to broadly cordate, margins crenulate to serrate, ciliate or eciliate, apex rounded to obtuse, surfaces glabrous or pubescent;
cauline similar to basal except: stipules ovate to lanceolate, margins laciniate;
petiole 1–3.5 cm;
blade 1.3–2.9 × 1.4–3.2 cm.
1.5–11.6 cm, glabrous or pubescent.
5–9.6 cm, glabrous or pubescent.
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 mostly eciliate, auricles 0.5–1 mm;
petals pale to bluish violet on both surfaces, lower 3 white basally and darker violet-veined, lateral 2 and often upper 2 and lowest bearded, lowest 15–18 mm, spur white, gibbous to usually elongated, 3–5 mm;
style head bearded; cleistogamous flowers axillary.
spherical to ovoid, 5–10 mm, usually glabrous, rarely finely puberulent.
ovoid to ellipsoid, 5–7 mm, glabrous.
light to medium brown or dark red-brown, 2.6–3.1 mm, elaiosome not covering funiculus.
brown, 1–1.5 mm.
= 48.
= 20.
Viola bakeri
Viola walteri
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.)
Varieties 2 (2 in the flora).
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
1. Leaf blades pubescent, hairs scattered throughout or concentrated along veins, adaxial surfaces, or toward margins; stipule margin processes 1/2+ stipule length. | var. walteri |
1. Leaf blades glabrous or pubescent, hairs usually confined to adaxial surfaces; stipule margin processes to 1/2 stipule length. | var. appalachiensis |
CA
OR
Flora NW
PNW Herbaria
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist
USDA Plants Database
LA Plants
MD Biodiversity
