Viola pedunculata
Viola lithion
California golden violet, johnny-jump-up, wild pansy, yellow pansy
rock 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, ascending to erect, glabrous, on caudex from fleshy 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: 1–4;
stipules unknown;
petiole 1–10 cm, glabrous, sometimes finely puberulent;
blade broadly ovate or deltate to broadly deltate, 1–2.5(–2.9) × 0.6–2.2(–2.6) cm, base usually cordate to truncate, rarely rounded, margins crenate-dentate, eciliate, apex acute, surfaces glabrous;
cauline similar to basal except: stipules lanceolate, margins usually fimbriate-toothed, sometimes entire, apex attenuate or acute;
petiole 1.1–3.7 cm, sometimes finely puberulent;
blade ovate to deltate, 0.7–2.2 × 0.4–1.2 cm, base sometimes rounded on distal blades.
2.9–20 cm, sparsely to densely puberulent.
3–6(–10) cm, glabrous.
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, margins eciliate, auricles 0.5–1 mm;
petals blue to pale violet on both surfaces with yellow area basally, lower 3 purple-veined, lowest with yellow area, lateral 2 bearded, lowest 5.5–11 mm, spur white to pale violet, gibbous, 0.5–1.3 mm;
style head bearded; cleistogamous flowers unknown.
ellipsoid, 5–11 mm, glabrous.
subglobose, ca. 5 mm, glabrous.
dark brown or black, shiny, 2.7 mm.
dark brown, ca. 1.8 mm.
= 12.
Viola pedunculata
Viola lithion
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.)
Of conservation concern.
Viola lithion is known only from the White Pine Range in Nevada and the Pilot Range straddling the Nevada-Utah border. It is related to V. canadensis and V. flettii.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
CA
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist
USDA Plants Database
