Pt 1 Violets from recent trip to RRG.
Violet key features are from Dr. Ballard’s Key. niche are field notes.
1,2 Viola hastata, halberd leaved violet, a dense shade acidic soil loving species of violet known for noticeable variegation on it’s hasta shaped leaves. (Muir Valley) Rhizome whitish; leaf blades hastate, base subcordate to deeply cordate with basal lobes parallel or divergent; upper surface of leaf blades in life frequently bicolorous, silvery-green between the contrasting darker green veins.
3,4.Viola rostrata, long spurred violet, associated with rockier soils well drained hillsides with richer organic horizons. Corolla pale-violet with purple-black eyespot; spur 10–15 mm, as long as or longer than blade of bottom petal; all petals glabrous; stipules oblong- to linear-lanceolate, > 3 × as long as broad, weakly lacerate; margins of leaf blade remotely crenate-serrate.(Muir Valley)
(5,6) Split from V. blanda complex Viola incognita, Sweet White Violet, I actually thought this was a depauperate V. blanda honestly, the complex split is a very funny new thing to me so I am glad I take photos of every dang violet I see; Viola blanda looks dang similar morphologically to this but, reading through the new Ohio link key provided me some incite on why I found a V. blanda at the base of a creek; i’ve found this species along sandstone outwashes where falluvium is located and deposited, V. blanda is a mineral soil dweller often at cliff face or cliff break, and on boulders. V. incognita is associated with ericaceous wet/mesic forest basins along washes.( Muir Valley, No BONAP yet).
Acaulescent stoloniferous perennials from slender rhizome, colonial from surficial stolons produced in summer, stolons naked or with 1 or more leaves along their length and terminating in a plantlet, ≤ 14 cm tall; foliage and peduncles gray-green, upper surface of leaf blades darker than lower, petioles and/or one or both surfaces glabrous or sparsely to moderately hirsute, peduncles often hirsute; stipules free, glandular-fimbriate; leaves ascending or spreading, leaf blades undivided, largest ≤ 61 × 72 mm, ovate to deltate-ovate or reniform, base shallowly and broadly cordate, basal lobes separated and mostly divergent in life, sinus > 1/4 (often > 1/3) length of blade, margins low-serrate, eciliate, apex usually obtuse to broadly rounded (occasionally broadly acute); chasmogamous peduncle held above the leaves; chasmogamous flower ≤ 13 mm long; calyx glabrous, eciliate; lowest sepals lanceolate to ovate-lanceolate, narrowly obtuse to rounded; auricles short and entire, not elongating in fruit; corolla white, throat greenish-white; spur short-globose; lateral petals bearded with slightly clavate hairs, spurred petal glabrous; chasmogamous capsule green; cleistogamous flowers produced after chasmogamous, on prostrate peduncle much shorter than petioles and arching upward just before capsule dehiscence; cleistogamous capsule 5–9 mm, green drying tan with purple spots or blotches, glabrous; seeds (1.6)1.9–2.2 × 1.0–1.3 mm long, light to medium brown, unspotted; 2n=44.
7,8. Viola blanda, small cream violet, Associated mainly with mineral sands, sandstone and karst sands in crevices are usually noted, often higher in elevation from the forest ravine systems like along cliff break and on wet rocky hillsides . At least some leaf blades broader than long, bicolorous with darker green upper surface and paler lower surface, usually minutely pubescent on one or both surfaces, obtuse to acute (acuminate) at apex, blade margins most often shallowly serrate; cleistogamous capsules with dense fine purple spots, on prostrate to arching peduncles; seeds 1.2–2.2 × 0.7–1.3 mm, brown or brownish-blackish, unspotted Leaves glabrous except for scattered appressed hairs on upper surface of leaf blades, peduncles glabrous; largest leaf blades abruptly acute at apex, inner edges of basal lobes attingent or overlapping in life, sinus < 1/4 length of blade, margins shallowly crenate; petioles and peduncles red-tinged or -spotted; all petals glabrous; cleistogamous capsules 6.5–8 mm long; seeds 1.2–1.3 × 0.7–0.8 mm, brownish-black; Appalachian Mountains and adjacent uplands, common at higher elevations. (Muir Valley)
9,10
Here is one growing in a dolomite section of a closed crag that I was lucky enough to get invited to by my friend Chris who is in the RRGCC
Part of the headache complex of the tiny purple is it Sororia or something worse complex. Growing in dense shade in mesic woodland mid section of a slope near the Rhododendron maximum on a tertiary ridge.
Viola hirsutula, southern wood violet, affiliated with dense shade and magnification.
So hear is the scoop for this species.
Viola sororia is often confused with this species, however, here are the things to pay close attention to:
Via Go Botany
Viola sororia :pubescence of leaves variable, but not concentrated on adaxial surface and often found on the petioles, and leaf blades rounded, to more commonly, obtusely to acutely pointed at apex, without purple coloration
vs. V. hirsutula: with the pubescence of leaves consisting of silver hairs concentrated on the adaxial surface, the abaxial surface and petioles glabrous or nearly so, and leaf blades usually rounded at apex, often suffused with purple.
Via Ballard Ohio Link Key.
Acaulescent rosulate perennials from thick rhizome, ≤ 16 cm tall; foliage and peduncles dark green, upper surface of leaf blades light gray- or silvery-green with dark green or reddish-purple veins, lower surface of blades and peduncles often purple tinged, all glabrous except for uniformly distributed conspicuous spreading or erect hairs on upper surface of leaf blades; stipules free, irregularly glandular-fimbriate; leaves spreading to prostrate (commonly lying on substrate during summer fruit), leaf blades undivided, largest ≤ 55 × 45 mm, ovate to suborbicular, base cordate, margins crenate to serrate, eciliate, apex acute to rounded; chasmogamous peduncle held above the leaves; chasmogamous flower ≤ 18 mm; calyx glabrous, eciliate; lowest sepals ovate (uncommonly ovate-lanceolate), obtuse to rounded; auricles short and entire, not elongating in fruit; corolla blue to purple or reddish-purple, throat white; spur short-globose; lateral petals densely bearded with filiform to narrowly linear hairs, spurred petal densely bearded; chasmogamous capsule green; cleistogamous flowers produced after chasmogamous, peduncle initially prostrate but arching just before capsule dehiscence and shorter than petioles; cleistogamous capsule 6.5–12 mm, green drying tan with purple spots or blotches, glabrous; seeds 1.5–2.1 × 1.1–1.4 mm, very light brown to orange-brown, unspotted or with weak to prominent brown streaks and spots; 2n=54.
Affiliated ecology according to Ballard’s key: Sandy soils on ridgetops, slopes of dry or dry-mesic oak and oak-pine or conifer forests, moist slopes or bottomlands, and clearings in former natural wooded habitats.
https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/294553v1.full (Iridoplasts, stomatal coloration, and light penetration)
https://people.ohio.edu/ballardh/vgpena/violakeys.htm
^viola and subordinate taxa
Important Jargin word of the day: Acaulescent: means flowers and pedicile or peduncle are not affiliated with leafy stems and arise entirely from the section of the plant appearing at grade/ground. vs, caulescent which arises from a leafy stem above the ground/grade.