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early yellow or roundleaf yellow violet, round-leaf violet, roundleaf yellow violet, violette à feuilles rondes

California golden violet, johnny-jump-up, wild pansy, yellow pansy

Habit Plants perennial, acaulescent, not stoloniferous, 1–20 cm; rhizome thick, fleshy. Plants perennial, caulescent, not stoloniferous, 5–39 cm.
Stems

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.

Leaves

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.

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.

Peduncles

1.5–7 cm, usually pubescent.

2.9–20 cm, sparsely to densely puberulent.

Flowers

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 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.

Capsules

ellipsoid, 5–10 mm, glabrous.

ellipsoid, 5–11 mm, glabrous.

Seeds

beige, 1–2 mm.

dark brown or black, shiny, 2.7 mm.

2n

= 12.

= 12.

Viola rotundifolia

Viola pedunculata

Phenology Flowering Mar–May. Flowering Feb–Apr.
Habitat Rich montane forests and other mesic woodlands Open, grassy coastal and inland slopes and hillsides, usually in full sun, chaparral, foothill and oak woodland
Elevation 200–2000 m (700–6600 ft) 0–1000 m (0–3300 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
CT; DE; GA; KY; MA; MD; ME; NC; NH; NY; OH; PA; RI; SC; TN; VA; VT; WV; ON; QC
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
CA; Mexico (Baja California)
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

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.)

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.)

Source FNA vol. 6, p. 155. FNA vol. 6, p. 144.
Parent taxa Violaceae > Viola Violaceae > Viola
Sibling taxa
V. adunca, V. affinis, V. arvensis, V. bakeri, V. beckwithii, V. bicolor, V. biflora, V. blanda, V. brittoniana, V. canadensis, V. canina, V. charlestonensis, V. clauseniana, V. cucullata, V. cuneata, V. douglasii, V. egglestonii, V. epipsila, V. flettii, V. frank-smithii, V. glabella, V. guadalupensis, V. hallii, V. hastata, V. hirsutula, V. howellii, V. japonica, V. labradorica, V. lanceolata, V. langsdorffii, V. lithion, V. lobata, V. macloskeyi, V. missouriensis, V. nephrophylla, V. novae-angliae, V. nuttallii, V. ocellata, V. odorata, V. orbiculata, V. palmata, V. palustris, V. pedata, V. pedatifida, V. pedunculata, V. pinetorum, V. praemorsa, V. primulifolia, V. prionantha, V. pubescens, V. purpurea, V. quercetorum, V. renifolia, V. riviniana, V. rostrata, V. sagittata, V. selkirkii, V. sempervirens, V. septemloba, V. sheltonii, V. sororia, V. striata, V. subsinuata, V. tomentosa, V. tricolor, V. trinervata, V. tripartita, V. umbraticola, V. utahensis, V. vallicola, V. villosa, V. walteri
V. adunca, V. affinis, V. arvensis, V. bakeri, V. beckwithii, V. bicolor, V. biflora, V. blanda, V. brittoniana, V. canadensis, V. canina, V. charlestonensis, V. clauseniana, V. cucullata, V. cuneata, V. douglasii, V. egglestonii, V. epipsila, V. flettii, V. frank-smithii, V. glabella, V. guadalupensis, V. hallii, V. hastata, V. hirsutula, V. howellii, V. japonica, V. labradorica, V. lanceolata, V. langsdorffii, V. lithion, V. lobata, V. macloskeyi, V. missouriensis, V. nephrophylla, V. novae-angliae, V. nuttallii, V. ocellata, V. odorata, V. orbiculata, V. palmata, V. palustris, V. pedata, V. pedatifida, V. pinetorum, V. praemorsa, V. primulifolia, V. prionantha, V. pubescens, V. purpurea, V. quercetorum, V. renifolia, V. riviniana, V. rostrata, V. rotundifolia, V. sagittata, V. selkirkii, V. sempervirens, V. septemloba, V. sheltonii, V. sororia, V. striata, V. subsinuata, V. tomentosa, V. tricolor, V. trinervata, V. tripartita, V. umbraticola, V. utahensis, V. vallicola, V. villosa, V. walteri
Synonyms V. pedunculata subsp. tenuifolia
Name authority Michaux: Fl. Bor.-Amer. 2: 150. (1803) Torrey & A. Gray: Fl. N. Amer. 1: 141. (1838)
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