Flora of North America species comparison

The green links below add additional plants to the comparison table. Blue links lead to other Web sites.
enable glossary links

Viola beckwithii

Beckwith's or Great Basin violet, Beckwith's violet, Great Basin violet, sagebrush pansy, sagebrush violet
Habit Plants perennial, caulescent, not stoloniferous, 2–22 cm.
Stems

1–3, decumbent, ascending, or erect, ca. 1/2 subterranean, glabrous or usually puberulent, on single, short, vertical, deep-seated caudex.
Leaves

basal and cauline;

basal: 1–6 per caudex, palmately compound, ± 2-ternate or 3-ternate, leaflets 3;

stipules adnate to petiole, forming 2 linear-lanceolate wings, unlobed, margins entire, apex of each wing free, acute;

petiole 2–10.5 cm, usually puberulent;

blade ovate to deltate, 2.4–5 × 3.5–4.5 cm, base tapered, ultimate leaflets dissected into oblong, elliptic, lanceolate, or oblanceolate lobes 1–7 mm wide, lobe margins entire, usually ciliate, apex acute to obtuse, mucronulate, surfaces usually puberulent, seldom glabrous, abaxial surface without prominent vein parallel to each margin;

cauline similar to basal except: stipules linear, apex acuminate;

petiole 2–5.7 cm, usually puberulent, rarely glabrous;

blade 1–2.7 × 1.5–3 cm.
Peduncles

1.5–10.6(–15.7) cm, usually puberulent, seldom glabrous.
Flowers

sepals lanceolate, margins eciliate, auricles 0.1–1 mm;

petals dark reddish violet on both surfaces, lower 3 usually lilac, rarely white or whitish, lateral 2 bearded, with yellow patch basally, dark reddish violet-veined, lowest 10–22 mm, with yellow patch, dark reddish violet-veined, spur whitish or yellowish, tinged purple, gibbous, 0.5–2 mm;

style head bearded; cleistogamous flowers absent.
Capsules

oblong-ovoid, 7–12 mm, glabrous.
Seeds

brown, 3–4 mm.
2n

= 24.

Viola beckwithii
Phenology Flowering Mar–May.
Habitat Dry or moist places, among shrubs or beneath pines
Elevation 900–2700 m (3000–8900 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
CA; ID; NV; OR; UT
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

In some populations of Viola beckwithii, the three lower petals are white with a yellow area proximally (V. B. Baird 1942). Leaves have been described as palmately biternate or triternate (L. Abrams and R. S. Ferris 1923–1960, vol. 3), ternately decompound into linear segments (C. L. Hitchcock et al. 1955–1969, vol. 3), palmately three-parted then bipinnately parted into ultimate linear or spatulate segments (P. A. Munz 1959), and palmately about three times three-parted into linear or spatulate-linear segments (W. L. Jepson 1951). Some populations in northern California are nearly or completely glabrous, which M. S. Baker recognized as var. glabrata.

Viola beckwithii is reported to hybridize with V. utahensis (G. Davidse 1976). Observed pollinators of V. beckwithii in Utah include Apis mellifera Linnaeus and Anthophora ursina Cresson (Davidse).

When Cottam described Viola bonnevillensis, he suggested that it could be a hybrid between V. beckwithii and V. utahensis, and G. Davidse (1976) concurred. The type specimen of V. bonnevillensis (Cottam 7067, UT) was examined by R. J. Little. Because no similar forms are known to have been collected since 1939, it is presumed that this taxon is a hybrid.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 6, p. 122.
Parent taxa Violaceae > Viola
Sibling taxa
V. adunca, V. affinis, V. arvensis, V. bakeri, V. bicolor, V. biflora, V. blanda, V. brittoniana, V. canadensis, V. canina, V. charlestonensis, V. clauseniana, V. cucullata, V. cuneata, V. douglasii, V. egglestonii, V. epipsila, V. flettii, V. frank-smithii, V. glabella, V. guadalupensis, V. hallii, V. hastata, V. hirsutula, V. howellii, V. japonica, V. labradorica, V. lanceolata, V. langsdorffii, V. lithion, V. lobata, V. macloskeyi, V. missouriensis, V. nephrophylla, V. novae-angliae, V. nuttallii, V. ocellata, V. odorata, V. orbiculata, V. palmata, V. palustris, V. pedata, V. pedatifida, V. pedunculata, V. pinetorum, V. praemorsa, V. primulifolia, V. prionantha, V. pubescens, V. purpurea, V. quercetorum, V. renifolia, V. riviniana, V. rostrata, V. rotundifolia, V. sagittata, V. selkirkii, V. sempervirens, V. septemloba, V. sheltonii, V. sororia, V. striata, V. subsinuata, V. tomentosa, V. tricolor, V. trinervata, V. tripartita, V. umbraticola, V. utahensis, V. vallicola, V. villosa, V. walteri
Synonyms V. beckwithii var. cachensis, V. beckwithii subsp. glabrata, V. bonnevillensis
Name authority Torrey: in E. M. Durand, Pl. Pratten. Calif., 82. (1855)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



Type/paste one or more Latin names into the boxes above; matching taxa will show up below the box as you type. You can use the up/down arrow keys to move through the list.

(If the plant you're looking for doesn't show up in the auto-complete list, that means it either isn't described in Flora of North America yet, or it's listed under a synonym. And please note that Flora of North America is still missing several plant families, including Fabaceae, Apiaceae, Boraginaceae, and Polemoniaceae.)

Choose a data source: Flora of North America, OregonFlora

The species comparison tool is brought to you by:
Northwest Wildflowers