Plant Species: Viola adunca, long-spurred violet
Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Magnoliophyta -- flowering plants
Class: Magnoliopsida -- dicotyledons
Order: Violales
Family: Violaceae -- violet
Genus: Viola
Species: adunca
Variety: the Palouse phase is var. adunca
Common Name: long-spurred violet, hookspur violet, early blue violet
Species Code: VIAD
Origin: Native to mesic meadows and open woods of western North America from Alaska to New Mexico and extending eastward across Canada and the northern tier of the United States.
Rare: no
Form: forb, perennial from slender rhizomes, glabrous to pubescent, stemless early but with aerial stems 2-10 cm long developing later in the season.
Duration: perennial
Longevity:
Habitat Type: prairie, forest
Wetland Indicator Status: FAC
Leaves: mostly basal, short to long petiolate, blades 1-3 cm wide, variable from ovate-lanceolate to reniform but more often cordate to ovate, margins crennate; stipules linear-lanceolate, 3-10 mm long.
Mature height: 2-8 inches
Flowers: borne on axillary peduncles; flowers 5-15 mm long, the 5 petals unequal, blue to violet, penciled with purple, the lateral pair white-bearded; spur hooked, slender, conspicuous; sepals 5, lanceolate, shorter than the petals.
Flower color: blue/purple
Bloom: April, May, June, extending into July, August at higher elevations
Bloom starts on: late April
Bloom ends on: early June
Fruit: capsule, 5-10 mm long, ellipsoid, glabrous, explosively dehiscent; seeds 2 mm long, ovoid, dark brown.
Vegetation type:
Characteristics:
Reproduces both sexually by seed and vegetatively by rhizomes.
Viola adunca is a highly variable species and has been divided into a number of species and varieties but few have met with widespread acceptance.
Viola species native to the United Kingdom are pollinated by bumblebees, honeybees, solitary bees, hover flies, and bee flies (Beattie 1971).
Flowers are mostly zygomorphic and perfect but some are cleistogamous. Cleistogamous flowers are generally inconspicuous and may even be borne underground (Hitchcock et al 1969).
Fruit is a capsule.
x=5, 2n=20 (University of British Columbia 2003).
n=10 (Hitchcock et al 1969, Baldwin et al 2004).
Both diploids and tetraploids are common. Triploids may be formed where diploid and tetraploid populations overlap, but triploids are sterile. Tetraploids flower about 2 weeks later than diploids (McPherson & Packer 1974).
Some native peoples used the plants medicinally.
Seed may be produced autogamously if pollinators are not available (Beattie 1971).
Seeds of V. adunca are dispersed by forceful expulsion from the capsule and may be further dispersed by ants (McPherson & Packer 1974). Ants are attracted to the elaiosome on many Viola species and carry the seeds back to the nest. The elaisome is removed from the seed and the seed discarded. Seeds from ant nests have higher emergence rates, mostly due to a more suitable germination environment in the nest (Culver & Beattie 1980). Some species of Viola depend entirely on ants for dispersal while others combine ant dispersal with explosive dispersal (Beattie & Lyons 1975). In West Virginia species, chasmogamous seeds are taken to ant nests more frequently than cleistogamous seeds. Ant dispersal reduces seed predation and increases nutrients available to the seedling (Culver & Beattie 1978).
Larva of several butterflies feed on Viola species. These include the western meadow fritillary (Clossiana epithore), the zerene fritillary (Speyeria zerene ssp. garretti), the great spangled fritillary (Speyeria cybele ssp. leto), and the Hydaspe fritillary (Speyeria hydaspe) (Pocewicz 2005).
Comments:
Sun requirement: partial to full sun
Soil moisture: mesic
Precipitation:
Fire:
Hazards:
Sowing time: fall
Transplant time: fall
Stratification: no information available
Seed yield: low
Seed harvest: difficult
Seed first harvest: no information available
Seed cleaning: no information available
Planting duration: long
Seed insect problem: no information available
Seed shatter: high
Seed size: small
Seed harvest date: no information available
Seed comments: Seed ripens indeterminately and capsules dehisce readily when ripe. Plants are very short.
Key words: native upland perennial forb
Alternate Genus:
Alternate Species:
Alternate Variety:
Propagation:
No information is available.
Reproduces both sexually by seed and vegetatively by rhizomes.
Notes: Viola adunca is a wonderful little plant with light purple flowers and a long spur. It should make a good garden plant, but we haven’t tried to grow it. Finding it when the seed is ripe is difficult. Common names include early blue violet, hooked violet, hookspur violet, western long-spurred violet (Skinner et al 2005).
References:
Baldwin, B.G., S. Boyd, B.J. Ertter, D.J. Keil, R.W. Patterson, T.J. Rosatti, and D.H. Wilken (eds). 2004. Jepson Online Interchange for California Floristics. University and Jepson Herbaria, University of California, Berkeley, CA. Accessed 9/24/09 online at http://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/interchange.html
Beattie, A.J. 1971. Pollination Mechanisms in Viola. New Phytology 70:343-360.
Beattie, A.J. and N. Lyons. 1975. Seed Dispersal in Viola (Violaceae): Adaptations and Strategies. American Journal of Botany 62:714-722.
Culver, David C., and Andrew J. Beattie. 1978. Myrmecochory in Viola: Dynamics of Seed-Ant Interactions in Some West Virginia Species. Journal of Ecology 66:53-72.
Culver, David C., and Andrew J. Beattie. 1980. The Fate of Viola Seeds Dispersed by Ants. American Journal of Botany 67:710-714.
Hitchcock, C. Leo, Arthur Cronquist, Marion Ownbey, and J.W. Thompson. 1969. Vascular Plants of the Pacific Northwest. University of Washington Press. Seattle, WA. 5 vol.
McPherson, G.D. and John G. Packer. 1974. A Contribution to the Taxonomy of Viola adunca. Canadian Journal of Botany 52:895-902.
Pocewicz, Amy. 2005. Host Plants of Palouse Butterfly Species. 2 page handout to accompany the April 2005 presentation to the Palouse Prairie Foundation.
Skinner, David M., Paul Warnick, Bill French, and Mary Fauci. 2005. More Palouse Forbs for Landscaping. USDA NRCS Pullman Plant Materials Center and Palouse Prairie Foundation.
Online at http://www.wsu.edu/pmc_nrcs/Docs/More_Forbs_for_Landscaping.pdf
University of British Columbia. 2003. British Columbia Flora. University of British Columbia Botanical Garden and Centre for Plant Research. Online at http://www.bcflora.org/ Accessed 1/1/06.