Acknowledgments
The information contained in this website is the property (or "borrowed" property, in the case of many images and certain information) of the members of the Violet Systematics Research Group (hereafter, the VSRG), and the collaborators and contributors who have generously provided their information, images or other resources for the benefit of all. The VSRG members accept the responsibility of any errors contained on the website.
At present, VSRG membership includes the following people, who have made significant contributions to this website.
•Harvey Ballard (creator of the website and author or co-author of most of the pages)
•Loran Anderson (co-author of the webpage)
•Kim Blaxland (author of resources for Botanikim website, co-author of V. epipsila and V. palustriswebpages, contributor of images)
•Remington Burwell (author of several webpages)
•Andrew Gibson (contributor of many images)
•Arthur Haines, Native Plant Trust (contributor of many images from the "Go Botany" website)
•Jennifer Hastings (co-author of some webpages)
•John Kartesz, Biota of North America Program (contributor of numerous range maps)
•Ross McCauley (co-author of the V. retusa webpage)
•Bruce Sorrie (contributor of many images, co-author of the Violaceae of the Southeastern U.S., consultant on southeastern violets)
•Alan Weakley (co-author of the Violaceae of the Southeastern U.S., consultant on southeastern violets)
•Bethany Zumwalde (co-author of some webpages)
•USDA Plants Database (contributor of some range maps)
We also gratefully acknowledge use of one or a few images from these kind contributors. Floyd Griffith, Bina Sitepu, and David Werier; Patrick Alexander, W. C. Burger, D. Busemeyer, Sue Carnahan, Tony Frates, Max Licher, Paul Rothrock, M. L. Sargent, Gertrudes Yanes-Arvayo (all from the “SERNEC portal” website); Jean Baxter, Donald Cameron, Keir Morse, Bruce Patterson, P. Pelser and Arieh Tal, “Go Botany” website; Rob Broekhuis, “robsplants.com” website; Paul Busselen, Biology Department, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Campus Kortrijk (from the "Go Botany" website); James Henderson, Forestry Images, Bugwood.org; Ben Legler, University of Washington Herbarium (from the "Go Botany" website); Barry Breckling and Jean Pawek, “Calphotos” website Alan Cressler, “Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center” website Cathie Bird, Suzanne Caldwell, Dan Nydick, and Jack Pierce, “North Carolina State University Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox” website; Ivy Main and Kenraiz Krzysztof Ziarnek, “Wikimedia Commons” website; John Lynch, New England Wild Flower Society (from "Go Botany" website); Katy Chayka and Peter M. Dziuk, "Minnesota Wildflowers" website; Salvor Gissurardottir, "Useful Temperate Plants" website; Merel Black, the "Online Virtual Flora of Wisconsin" website; Robert L. Carr, "Flora of Eastern Washington and Adjacent Idaho" website; Old Bean Adams, Eric Keith, Bonnie Isaac, Brian Keener, Jessica McAlpine, mitomi68, robjohn, Tess the Naturalist, M. C. Willy, "iNaturalist" website; James Lindsey, "Ecology of Commanster" website (from “Go Botany” website); David Smith, "Delaware Wildflowers" website; Kevin Nixon, "PlantSystematics.org" website; J. K. Marlow, Richard and Teresa Ware, "Native & Naturalized Plants of the Carolinas & Georgia" website.
In studying North American violets, Harvey Ballard has benefited greatly from the help and guidance of numerous people. Official and unofficial academic or professional mentors include Richard Brewer, Mark Chase, Mike Fay, Hugh Iltis, Bob Kowal, Paul Olexia, Dick Pippen, Tony Reznicek, David Spooner, Ken Sytsma, Ed Voss, Herb Wagner, and Dan Wujek.
Collaborators and coauthors (excluding mentors, and current or former students) include Bil Alverson, Mike Arnold, Loran Anderson, Mary Barkworth, Chris Bedel and the Edge of Appalachia Preserve staff, Andrew Berry and the Bernheim Arboretum and Research Forest staff, Kim Blaxland, Megan Bowman, Butch Brodie and the Mountain Lake Biological Station staff, Kim Brown, Ken Cameron, Sherwin Carlquist, Christy Carter, Kevin Childs, Ted Cochrane, Theresa Culley, Alison Cusick, Mike Donoghue, Denis Filer and the BRAHMS staff, Craig Freeman, Rick Gardner, Sue Gawler, Lynden Gerdes, Andrew Gibson, Steve Grund, Arthur Haines, P. J. Harmon, Robert Haynes, Barbara Hellenthal, Phyllis Higman, Andrew Hipp, Scott Hodges, Mike Homoya, Bonnie and Joe Isaac, John Kartesz, Duane Kolterman, Elzbieta Kuta, Doug Ladd, Tara Littlefield, Tim Lowrey, Thomas Marcussen, Landon McKinney, Rob Naczi, Dick Olmstead, Juliana de Paula-Souza, Mike Penskar, Steve Perlman, Ann Rhoads, Welby Smith, David Snyder, Bruce Sorrie, Eric Stockinger, Patrick Sweeney, Johnny Townsend, Shirley Tucker,Warren Wagner, Basyl Wakowsky, Alan Weakley, Stan Welsh, David Werier, Tom Wieboldt, Paul Wolf, Andi Wolfe, Ken Wood, Sarah Wyatt, Kay and George Yatskievych, Steve Young, and John Zaborsky.
Graduate students who have conducted research on North American violets or assisted with it include Rem Burwell, Dale Casamatta, Aurea Cortes-Palomec, Min Feng, Ben Flicker, Ben Gahagen, Melissa Hall, Jennifer Hastings, Chris Havran, Jeremy Keene, Colin Kruse, Jason Larson, Sam Lockhart, Ross McCauley, Cheryl McCreary, Vijay Nadella, Daniel Robarts (The Ohio State University), Claudia Segovia-Salcedo, Tanmay Singh, Bina Sitepu, Jennifer Stephens (University of Alabama), Anne Sternberger, Bob Verb, Greg Wahlert, Yujing Wang, and Bethany Zumwalde. Undergraduate students who have conducted research on North American violets or assisted with it include Scott Beil, Josh Beniston, Chris Benson, Andrew Bishop, Jarrod Bonnick, Ben Chamberlain, Nick Chilson, Kathleen Cook, Alyssa Dawson, Donnie Day, Chase Detillion, Mike Devine, David Doddridge, Sean Fenstemaker, Kyle Gatt, Alex Greff, Kyle Grubb, Amy Hovart, Richie Janssen, Colin King, Tristan Kinnison, Josh Kranyik, Ian Lewton, David May, Ryan McNally, James Mears, Patty Nally, Isaac Pouliot, Bryan Rayo, Mark Reddin, Aaron Robertson, Kristyn Robinson, Tod Roth, Kelly Steyer, Kyle Strohl, and Jacob Zink. Husband Andrew Stuart, son Dave Robson and grandkids Destiny and David, parents Marilyn and Harvey Ballard, and friends Suzie and Leif Bates, and Paul Meloche have provided much needed support, invaluable field, herbarium and lab assistance, and comic relief over the last 45 years.
Kalamazoo College, Western Michigan University, Central Michigan University, and the University of Wisconsin-Madison provided various kinds of support during degree-related research. Ohio University has supported the research of Harvey and his students during his academic professional career, including funding from the Program to Aid Career Exploration (PACE) program, the Honors Tutorial College Research Apprenticeship Program, the Provost Undergraduate Research Fund, the Student Enhancement Award Program, the Graduate Student Senate Original Work Grant Program, the Named Graduate Student Fellowships Program, College of Arts and Sciences Faculty Development Fund, the John Baker Memorial Fund, and the Ohio University Research Committee.
Much of our research, especially in recent years during the "taxonomic revolution" with an integrative taxonomic approach, was conducted on U.S. Forest Service lands. We are particularly indebted to the George Washington and Jefferson National Forest in Virginia, which has enthusiastically provided multi-year permits for our research, which in turn has revealed a number of new species and potential new taxa on their lands.
We are also grateful for external funding or in-kind support from the Field Museum, New York Botanical Garden, Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden, Royal Botanic Garden at Kew, Smithsonian Institution, Ohio Plant Biotechnology Consortium, Ohio Biological Survey, the Clarence R. and Florence N. Hanes Fund, the Virginia Native Plant Society, the Southern Appalachian Botanical Society Earl Core Award program, the American Society of Plant Taxonomists, the Botanical Society of America, the American Philosophical Society, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the National Science Foundation.
Finally, we owe great thanks to those botanists who have gone before us in studying these delightful and sometimes perplexing and challenging plants, the violets, offering us a huge "shoulder" on which to stand and survey the taxonomic and evolutionary landscape of violet diversity; to the countless collectors of plant specimens which underpin much of our knowledge of violet distributions and trait variation; and the herbarium staff who lovingly curate and expand their collections, providing the rest of us with unparalleled scientific resources documenting the past and present plant diversity of the planet.