Viola rotundifolia
Viola bakeri
early yellow or roundleaf yellow violet, round-leaf violet, roundleaf yellow violet, violette à feuilles rondes
Baker's violet, yellow prairie violet
1–4, usually erect, sometimes prostrate or decumbent, leafy proximally and distally, usually puberulent, from usually vertical, subligneous rhizome.
basal, 2–5, prostrate to ascending, often overlapping basally;
stipules linear-lanceolate, margins entire, apex acute;
petiole 2–8 cm, pubescent;
blade unlobed, orbiculate, reniform, or ovate, 2–12 × 1.5–9 cm, base cordate, margins crenate to serrate, sometimes glandular, ciliate or eciliate, apex rounded to acute, surfaces usually pubescent throughout or concentrated proximally on both surfaces.
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.
1.5–7 cm, usually pubescent.
1.5–11.6 cm, glabrous or pubescent.
sepals lanceolate to ovate, margins ciliate or eciliate, auricles 0.5–1 mm;
petals deep lemon-yellow on both surfaces, lower 3 brownish purple-veined, lateral 2 bearded, lowest 8–11 mm, spur yellow, gibbous, 1–2 mm;
style head beardless; cleistogamous flowers on prostrate or partially subterranean rhizomes or on racemelike, nonrooting, and usually leafless branches growing from rhizome apex.
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.
ellipsoid, 5–10 mm, glabrous.
spherical to ovoid, 5–10 mm, usually glabrous, rarely finely puberulent.
beige, 1–2 mm.
light to medium brown or dark red-brown, 2.6–3.1 mm, elaiosome not covering funiculus.
= 12.
= 48.
Viola rotundifolia
Viola bakeri
N. H. Russell (1955b) stated that Viola rotundifolia is a primitive member of Viola and probably one of the ancestral species of stemmed yellow violets of North America. Russell (1965) stated that morphologically, V. rotundifolia is one of the most invariable violets and suggested that its nearest relative is V. orbiculata.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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.)
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