Viola pedunculata
Viola charlestonensis
California golden violet, johnny-jump-up, wild pansy, yellow pansy
Charleston Mountain or Charleston violet, Charleston Mountain violet
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.
1–3, prostrate, decumbent, or erect, leafy proximally and distally, 1/2–2/3 subterranean, glabrous or puberulent, on caudex from usually vertical, subligneous rhizome.
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 and cauline;
basal: 1–3;
stipules adnate to petiole, forming 2 linear-lanceolate wings, margins entire or sparingly lacerate, apex of each wing free, acuminate;
petiole 3.5–13.5 cm, densely short-puberulent;
blade purplish abaxially (often dark purple-veined), grayish adaxially with prominent whitish veins (from dense hairs), usually orbiculate to broadly ovate, sometimes reniform, thick, 1–3.5 × 1.1–3.3 cm, base attenuate or truncate, margins entire, ciliate mostly on proximal half of blade, apex acute to obtuse, mucronulate, surfaces densely short-puberulent;
cauline similar to basal except: stipules deltate to lanceolate, apex acute;
petiole 1.9–3.4 cm;
blade ovate or elliptic to deltate, 0.7–3.1 × 0.6–2.2 cm, length 0.7–1.9 times width, base usually attenuate, sometimes subcordate, margins entire, ciliate.
2.9–20 cm, sparsely to densely puberulent.
1.7–6.6 cm, 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 linear-lanceolate, margins ciliate or eciliate, auricles 0.5–1 mm;
petals deep lemon-yellow adaxially, upper 2 usually conspicuously reddish brown to brownish purple abaxially, lateral 2 streaked or solid reddish brown, lower 3 and sometimes upper 2 dark brown-veined proximally, lateral 2 bearded, lowest 8–13 mm, spur usually reddish brown, sometimes yellowish, gibbous, 0.4–2 mm, glabrous or scabrous abaxially;
style head bearded; cleistogamous flowers axillary.
ellipsoid, 5–11 mm, glabrous.
spherical, 4.5–9 mm, puberulent.
dark brown or black, shiny, 2.7 mm.
black, 3.4–3.5 mm.
= 12.
= 12.
Viola pedunculata
Viola charlestonensis
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 charlestonensis is known only from the Spring Mountains (previously called Charleston Mountains) in Nevada and Zion National Park, Utah. M. S. Baker (in I. W. Clokey 1945) stated that E. C. Jaeger reportedly collected it at Jacob’s Pool, Arizona, in July 1926. The location of this single Arizona collection may be an error (R. J. Little 2001).
M. S. Baker and J. Clausen (in I. W. Clokey 1945) stated that Viola charlestonensis is the only species in Becker’s Nuttallianae group with the spur pubescent on the exterior. In some populations in the Spring Mountains, Nevada, the spur and the midvein on the abaxial surface of the lowest petal to ± the middle of the lowest petal are covered ± densely with short hairs. Scattered hairs are also present on the abaxial surface of the lateral and upper petals. In other populations in the Spring Mountains, short hairs are mostly absent on the spur, lowest petal, and abaxial surfaces of lateral and upper petals.
M. S. Baker (in I. W. Clokey 1945) commented that he observed numerous sterile flowers and relatively few mature capsules and seeds of Viola charlestonensis plants when he visited the Spring Mountains in June 1937. Similar observations were made of V. charlestonensis plants in the Spring Mountains at one location in 2009 and of three other locations in 2010.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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