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prostrate blue violet

3-nerve violet, desert pansy, Rainier or sagebrush or three-nerve violet, Rainier violet, sagebrush violet, three-nerve violet

Habit Plants perennial, caulescent, stoloniferous, 5–19 cm; stolons green or reddish, leafy, sometimes rooting at nodes, becoming lignified in age. Plants perennial, caulescent, not stoloniferous, 5–15 cm.
Stems

1–5, prostrate, spreading, finely puberulent, from current and/or previous year’s growth, on usually vertical, fleshy rhizome, rooting and forming rosettes at or near tip; rooted rosettes often develop into an erect, fleshy caudex from which new stems are produced.

1–4, decumbent, ascending, or erect, ca. 1/2 subterranean, glabrous, from single, vertical, deep-seated caudex.

Leaves

basal and cauline;

basal: 3–6;

stipules lanceolate, margins laciniate, projections often long-filamentous, apex long-acuminate;

petiole 2.3–7.3 cm, glabrous or pubescent;

blade often purple-spotted abaxially and/or adaxially, ovate to reniform, 1.2–5 × 1.6–3.6 cm, base deeply to broadly cordate, margins crenulate to serrate, ciliate or eciliate, apex rounded to obtuse, surfaces glabrous or pubescent;

cauline similar to basal except: stipules ovate to lanceolate, margins laciniate;

petiole 1–3.5 cm;

blade 1.3–2.9 × 1.4–3.2 cm.

basal and cauline;

basal: 1–7, palmately compound, leaflets 3–5;

stipules adnate to petiole, forming 2 linear-lanceolate wings, unlobed, margins entire, apex of each wing free, acute;

petiole 4.5–15 cm, glabrous;

blade reniform or ovate to ± orbiculate, 2–5 × 2.5–5 cm, coriaceous, base tapered, leaflets cleft or dissected into 2–3 elliptic, lanceolate, or oblanceolate lobes 2–7 mm wide, margins usually entire, eciliate, apex acute, mucronulate, surfaces glabrous (± glaucous), abaxial surface usually with prominent vein parallel to each margin;

cauline similar to basal except: stipules lanceolate;

petiole 1–5.5 cm;

blade 1–3 × 2–4.5 cm.

Peduncles

5–9.6 cm, glabrous or pubescent.

1.1–7 cm, glabrous.

Flowers

sepals lanceolate to ovate, margins mostly eciliate, auricles 0.5–1 mm;

petals pale to bluish violet on both surfaces, lower 3 white basally and darker violet-veined, lateral 2 and often upper 2 and lowest bearded, lowest 15–18 mm, spur white, gibbous to usually elongated, 3–5 mm;

style head bearded; cleistogamous flowers axillary.

sepals lanceolate, margins eciliate, auricles 0–1 mm;

petals: upper 2 often overlapping, dark reddish violet on both surfaces, lower 3 lilac, rarely white, lateral 2 bearded, with yellow patch basally and reddish violet patch distal to yellow patch, lowest 9–15 mm with yellow patch, dark reddish violet-veined, spur yellow, gibbous, 0.6–1.5 mm;

style head bearded; cleistogamous flowers absent.

Capsules

ovoid to ellipsoid, 5–7 mm, glabrous.

ovoid, 7–12 mm, glabrous.

Seeds

brown, 1–1.5 mm.

tan, 3.2–4.5 mm.

2n

= 20.

Viola walteri

Viola trinervata

Phenology Flowering Mar–May.
Habitat Sagebrush flats, dry, rocky hillsides, usually in gravelly soil
Elevation 400–1200 m (1300–3900 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AL; AR; FL; GA; KY; LA; MD; MS; NC; OH; PA; SC; TN; TX; VA; WV
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
OR; WA
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Varieties 2 (2 in the flora).

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

In some populations of Viola trinervata the lower three petals are white with a yellow area proximally (V. B. Baird 1942).

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Key
1. Leaf blades pubescent, hairs scattered throughout or concentrated along veins, adaxial surfaces, or toward margins; stipule margin processes 1/2+ stipule length.
var. walteri
1. Leaf blades glabrous or pubescent, hairs usually confined to adaxial surfaces; stipule margin processes to 1/2 stipule length.
var. appalachiensis
Source FNA vol. 6, p. 163. FNA vol. 6, p. 161.
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. 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. 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. rotundifolia, V. sagittata, V. selkirkii, V. sempervirens, V. septemloba, V. sheltonii, V. sororia, V. striata, V. subsinuata, V. tomentosa, V. tricolor, V. tripartita, V. umbraticola, V. utahensis, V. vallicola, V. villosa, V. walteri
Subordinate taxa
V. walteri var. appalachiensis, V. walteri var. walteri
Synonyms V. beckwithii var. trinervata
Name authority House: Torreya 6: 172. (1906) (Howell) Howell ex A. Gray: Bot. Gaz. 11: 290. (1886)
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