Viola rotundifolia
Viola palmata
early yellow or roundleaf yellow violet, round-leaf violet, roundleaf yellow violet, violette à feuilles rondes
early blue violet, three-lobe violet, three-lobed violet, trilobed violet, wood violet
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, 2–3, ascending to erect;
stipules linear-lanceolate, margins entire, apex acute;
petiole 1–20 cm, glabrous or pubescent;
earliest leaf blades unlobed, mid-season blades 3–9-lobed, lobes sometimes appearing petiolate and sometimes further lobed;
earliest leaf blades reniform to ovate, mid-season blades with middle lobes usually ovate or elliptic to widely obovate, sometimes narrowly elliptic, narrowly ovate, lanceolate, or spatulate to narrowly obovate, lateral lobes elliptic, obdeltate, or spatulate to falcate, smaller lobes similar, 1–14 × 1–10 cm, base truncate to cordate, margins serrate or entire, usually ciliate, apex acute, rounded, blunt, or obtuse, surfaces glabrous or pubescent throughout or along veins.
1.5–7 cm, usually pubescent.
3–13 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 ciliate or eciliate, auricles 0.5–1 mm;
petals violet on both surfaces, lower 3 white basally, lower 3 and upper 2 sometimes purple-veined, lateral 2 bearded, spur sometimes bearded, lowest 15–25 mm, spur white, gibbous, 2–3 mm;
style head beardless; cleistogamous flowers on prostrate to ascending peduncles.
ellipsoid, 5–10 mm, glabrous.
ellipsoid, 5–15 mm, glabrous.
beige, 1–2 mm.
beige, mottled to bronze, 1.5–2.5 mm.
= 12.
= 54.
Viola rotundifolia
Viola palmata
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.)
N. L. Gil-Ad (1997) presented evidence based on seed coat micromorphology that some plants known as Viola palmata are hybrids between plants with lobed and unlobed leaves and believed the type specimen to be hybrid in origin. He chose not to recognize the name V. palmata, choosing instead to recognize V. triloba. If the type specimen does represent a hybrid, Gil-Ad would be correct in recognizing V. triloba. Because the purity of the type specimen cannot be ascertained, we consider V. palmata the most appropriate name for this taxon. We acknowledge the presence of hybrids between lobed and unlobed plants; such hybrids obscure lines of demarcation. Some herbarium specimens may represent such hybrids; we feel most do not.
L. E. McKinney (1992) described the nomenclatural history of Viola palmata. Homophylly versus heterophylly differentiates V. palmata from V. subsinuata, the homophyllous violet most often called V. palmata. We know that the taxon described by Linnaeus was heterophyllous, with some undivided leaf blades.
Varieties 2 (2 in the flora).
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
1. Petioles, leaf surfaces, and peduncles usually pubescent, rarely glabrous; apex of middle leaf lobe acute; plants of dry to mesic habitats. | var. palmata |
1. Petioles, leaf surfaces, and peduncles usually glabrous, rarely pubescent; apex of middle leaf lobe rounded, blunt, or obtuse; plants of wet ground. | var. heterophylla |
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