Viola subsinuata [Chapel Hill variant]
Common names:
None.
Synonyms:
None.
Description:
As described in the species complex.
Ecology:
Same as the species complex.
Distribution:
E. Piedmont of NC, in counties encompassing or surrounding Chapel Hill.
Rarity:
None.
Phenology:
Presumably same as the species complex.
Affinities:
Same as the species complex.
Hybrids:
Hybridizes with V. sororia, based on some specimens with less deeply divided leaf blades found in the vicinity of typical Viola subsinuata [Chapel Hill variant] (Harvey Ballard pers. comm.). No information on reproduction is available.
Comments:
This narrowly restricted taxon is represented by one typical herbarium specimen (North Carolina, Orange Co., [Chapel Hill], Sandy soil of fairly open but damp mixed woods by road behind [Kenan Memorial] stadium, Sparse, 18 Apr 1949, D. E. Kirk s.n., NCU) and a number of others which appear to be hybrids of the present taxon with V. sororia, taken in Alleghany, Durham, and Orange Counties. It differs from V. subsinuata sensu stricto by its subtriternately divided leaf blades, with ultimate lobes nearly appressed in the primary divisions and vaguely resembling a leaf of Anemone quinquefolia. This may simply be an odd leaf variant, but none of the specimens have cleistogamous fruits, and the whole series of specimens are oddly removed from the main high-elevation range of V. subsinuata sensu stricto. The specimen collection dates range from 1940 to 1965, and some of the localities may be extirpated, but the taxon would be worth searching for.
Literature Cited:
None.
Chasmogamous flowering habit from herbarium specimen: NC, [Orange Co.], Chapel Hill, Sandy soil of fairly open but damp mixed woods by road behind [Kenan Memorial] stadium, Sparse, 18 Apr 1949, D. E. Kirk 72 (NCU)
Map of taxa in the Subsinuata species group by Harvey Ballard