Viola pedunculata
Viola blanda
California golden violet, johnny-jump-up, wild pansy, yellow pansy
sweet white violet, violette agréable
1–10+, decumbent, ascending, or erect, leafy proximally and distally, glabrous or puberulent, from shallow to deep-seated, enlarged rhizome with fleshy to subligneous roots.
cauline;
stipules ovate, linear-lanceolate, or oblanceolate, sometimes leaflike, margins entire or glandular-toothed, apex acute to acuminate;
petiole 2.7–7.2 cm, usually finely puberulent, sometimes glabrate;
blade deltate to ovate, 1–5.5 × 1–5.5 cm, base truncate, subcordate, or attenuate, margins crenate to serrate, ciliate, apex acute to obtuse, surfaces subglabrous or sparsely puberulent.
basal, 2–9, prostrate to ascending;
stipules linear-lanceolate, margins entire, apex acute;
petiole 2–11 cm, usually sparsely pubescent;
blade unlobed, reniform to ovate, 2–4 × 2–4 cm, base cordate, lobes often overlapping, margins serrate, ciliate or eciliate, apex rounded or acute to acuminate, surfaces sometimes glabrous, usually sparsely pubescent adaxially.
2.9–20 cm, sparsely to densely puberulent.
3–11 cm, glabrous or pubescent.
sepals lanceolate to ovate, margins ciliate or eciliate, auricles 1–3 mm;
petals golden yellow adaxially, upper 2 reddish brown abaxially, lower 3 dark brown-veined, lateral 2 bearded, lowest 10–20 mm, spur dark reddish brown, gibbous, 2–4 mm;
style head bearded; cleistogamous flowers absent.
sepals lanceolate to ovate, margins mostly eciliate, auricles 1–2 mm;
petals white on both surfaces, lower 3 purple-veined, lateral 2 usually beardless, lowest 8–10 mm, spur white, gibbous, 1–2 mm;
style head beardless; cleistogamous flowers axillary.
ellipsoid, 5–11 mm, glabrous.
ovoid to ellipsoid, 4–6 mm, glabrous.
dark brown or black, shiny, 2.7 mm.
beige to bronze, 1.5–2 mm.
= 12.
= 44, 48.
Viola pedunculata
Viola blanda
The stems of Viola pedunculata arise from an enlarged, subterranean, spongy or fibrous rhizome. Often, these rhizome structures are deep seated; it is unknown how they get so deeply buried. The anther appendages of V. pedunculata are hairy distally, a characteristic not known to occur in other members of the V. purpurea complex.
Larvae of the federally listed Callippe silverspot butterfly [Speyeria callippe (Boisduval) callippe] feed only on Viola pedunculata.
Plants with leaves reported to be smaller, thinner, deltate, mostly longer than wide, with yellow petals (versus orange for Viola pedunculata var. pedunculata), style 2.1 mm (versus 2.9 mm for var. pedunculata), from the Pinnacles region in San Benito County, California, have been called subsp. tenuifolia.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Viola blanda occurs in small colonies; individual plants are interconnected by stolons.
Whether to recognize Viola incognita at any taxonomic level is currently unresolved. It is said to have pubescent
leaf blades, greenish peduncles, nontwisted lateral petals, and a preference for moister habitats. Most of these characters fall within the range of variation observed in V. blanda.
N. H. Russell (1965) noted that Viola incognita is principally found in glaciated areas whereas V. blanda is found in nonglaciated areas. Á. Löve and D. Löve (1982b) and J. M. Canne (1987) reported a chromosome count of 2n = 44; J. Clausen (1929) and A. Gershoy (1934) reported 2n = 48. V. B. Baird (1942) reported that V. blanda (and V. incognita) have fragrant flowers.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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