Viola emarginata [Lower Midwest variant]

Common names:

None.

Synonyms:

None.

Description:

Growth form, foliage and peduncle color and indument same as the species; petioles narrowly winged; leaf blade outline narrowly ovate and convexly tapering to obtuse or narrowly rounded apex, all blades undivided; petal apices broadly rounded; spurred petal not laterally compressed in life; corolla color and other features as in the species; cleistogamous fruits and seeds unknown.

Similar species:

See Viola emarginata [species complex].

Ecology:

Wet prairies, moist fields.

Distribution:

Lower Midwest and se. Great Plains, s. MO and se. OK south to c. AR and e. TX.

Rarity:

None.

Phenology:

Chasmogamous flower April-May, chasmogamous fruit April, cleistogamous fruit May.

Affinities:

Same as V. emarginata sensu lato.

Hybrids:

Hybridizes with V. lovelliana (Brainerd 1924) and V. palmata var. palmata. Brainerd reported that the hybrid with V. lovelliana was "more or less infertile".

Comments:

This regionally endemic variant has been misidentified and overlooked as V. sagittata. It should be sought in mature cleistogamous fruit, which is currently unknown. It may be more widely distributed than the range above indicates.

Literature Cited:

Brainerd, E. 1921b. Violets of North America. Vermont Agricultural Experiment Station Bulletin 224: 1–172.
Brainerd, E. 1924. The natural violet hybrids of North America. Vermont Agricultural Experiment Station Bulletin 239.

 

Authored by Harvey Ballard on 24 March, 2020; last updated on 15 October, 2022.

Chasmogamous flowering habit from herbarium specimen: OK, Muskogee, E. Brainerd 45 (NY)

Map by Biota of North America Program