Skip to main content

This genus is accepted, and is native to Europe, Asia-Tropical, Africa, Falkland Island, Hawaii, Southern America, Northern America, Australasia and Asia-Temperate..

[FSOM]

M. Thulin. Flora of Somalia, Vol. 1–4 [updated 2008] https://plants.jstor.org/collection/FLOS

Distribution
Over 400 species, throughout the world, but particularly in northern temperate regions.
Habit
Herbs or rarely subshrubs
Leaves
Leaves alternate; stipules entire to variously toothed, sometimes leafy
Flowers
Flowers solitary, zygomorphic; pedicels with a pair of small bracteoles
Calyx
Sepals ± equal-Petals unequal, the lowermost (the lip) usually larger and with a spur directed backwards
Stamens
Stamens with very short free filaments and free or slightly united anthers; connective-appendages entire; lower 2 anthers each with a nectar-secreting appendage extending into the spur
Ovary
Ovary generally with numerous ovules; style usually deflexed downwards and thickened towards the tip
Fruits
Fruit a 3-valved capsule
Seeds
Seeds usually smooth, with or without an aril.

[FZ]

Violaceae, N. K. B. Robson. Flora Zambesiaca 1:1. 1960

Habit
Herbs, rarely shrublets.
Leaves
Leaves alternate, petiolate, usually ± serrate; stipules sometimes foliaceous, persistent.
Inflorescences
Inflorescence almost always of single flowers in the leaf axils; pedicels not articulated.
Flowers
Flowers zygomorphic.
Calyx
Sepals almost equal, usually with a basal appendage (± absent in V. abyssinica).
Corolla
Petals unequal, the anterior usually larger than the others with a basal spur of varying length, blue or purple to yellow or white but always yellow at the base.
Stamens
Stamens with very short free filaments; anthers free or slightly coherent, with a ± thick dorsal prolongation of the connective ("connective-appendage"), and the ventral anthers with two appendages which extend into the spur and secrete nectar ("spur-appendages").
Pistil
Ovary with 3 placentas, each bearing numerous ovules; style usually bent downwards and ± thickened towards the apex, entire or with various appendages; stigma terminal, or apparently lateral when the style apex is reflexed.
Fruits
Fruit a loculicidal capsule with 3 contractile valves keeled and thickened along the sutures.
Seeds
Seeds globose-ovoid, usually smooth, with abundant endosperm and with or without a thickened aril.

[FTEA]

Violaceae, C. Grey-wilson. Flora of Tropical East Africa. 1986

Habit
Herbs or rarely subshrubs
Leaves
Leaves alternate, peiolate; stipules entire to variously toothed or lobed, sometimes foliaceous
Flowers
Flowers solitary, axillary, zygomorphic; pedicels with a pair of small bracteoles, generally above the middle
Calyx
Sepals ± equal, usually with a short basal appendage
Corolla
Petals unequal, the lowermost (the lip) usually larger, sometimes equal to or smaller than the other petals and with a short or long basal spur directed backwards
Stamens
Stamens with very short free filaments and free or slightly coherent anthers; connective-appendages entire, generally oblong or ovate; lower 2 anthers each with an appendage extending into the spur and which excretes nectar
Pistil
Ovary generally with numerous ovules; style usually deflexed downwards and thickened towards the tip
Fruits
Fruit a loculicidal capsule with 3 contractile valves
Seeds
Seeds usually smooth, with or without an aril.

Native to:

Afghanistan, Alabama, Alaska, Albania, Alberta, Aleutian Is., Algeria, Altay, Amur, Argentina Northwest, Argentina South, Arizona, Arkansas, Assam, Austria, Azores, Baleares, Baltic States, Bangladesh, Belarus, Belgium, Bolivia, Borneo, Brazil South, Brazil Southeast, British Columbia, Bulgaria, Burundi, Buryatiya, California, Cambodia, Cameroon, Canary Is., Cape Provinces, Central European Rus, Chatham Is., Chile Central, Chile North, Chile South, China North-Central, China South-Central, China Southeast, Chita, Colombia, Colorado, Connecticut, Corse, Costa Rica, Cyprus, Czechoslovakia, Delaware, Denmark, District of Columbia, Dominican Republic, East Aegean Is., East European Russia, East Himalaya, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Falkland Is., Finland, Florida, France, Føroyar, Georgia, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Greenland, Guatemala, Gulf of Guinea Is., Gulf States, Hainan, Hawaii, Honduras, Hungary, Iceland, Idaho, Illinois, India, Indiana, Inner Mongolia, Iowa, Iran, Iraq, Ireland, Irkutsk, Italy, Japan, Jawa, Kamchatka, Kansas, Kazakhstan, Kentucky, Kenya, Khabarovsk, Kirgizstan, Korea, Krasnoyarsk, Kriti, Krym, Kuril Is., Labrador, Laos, Lebanon-Syria, Leeward Is., Lesser Sunda Is., Libya, Louisiana, Madagascar, Madeira, Magadan, Maine, Malawi, Malaya, Maluku, Manchuria, Manitoba, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mauritius, Mexico Central, Mexico Gulf, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Northwest, Mexico Southeast, Mexico Southwest, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Mongolia, Montana, Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar, Nansei-shoto, Nebraska, Nepal, Netherlands, Nevada, New Brunswick, New Guinea, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New South Wales, New York, New Zealand North, New Zealand South, Newfoundland, Nigeria, Norfolk Is., North Carolina, North Caucasus, North Dakota, North European Russi, Northern Provinces, Northwest European R, Northwest Territorie, Norway, Nova Scotia, Nunavut, Ogasawara-shoto, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oman, Ontario, Oregon, Pakistan, Palestine, Panamá, Pennsylvania, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Primorye, Prince Edward I., Qinghai, Queensland, Québec, Rhode I., Romania, Rwanda, Réunion, Sakhalin, Sardegna, Saskatchewan, Saudi Arabia, Sicilia, Socotra, Somalia, South Australia, South Carolina, South Dakota, South European Russi, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Sulawesi, Sumatera, Svalbard, Sweden, Switzerland, Tadzhikistan, Taiwan, Tanzania, Tasmania, Tennessee, Texas, Thailand, Tibet, Transcaucasus, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkey-in-Europe, Turkmenistan, Tuva, Uganda, Ukraine, Utah, Uzbekistan, Venezuela, Vermont, Victoria, Vietnam, Virginia, Washington, West Himalaya, West Siberia, West Virginia, Windward Is., Wisconsin, Wyoming, Xinjiang, Yakutskiya, Yemen, Yugoslavia, Yukon, Zambia, Zaïre, Zimbabwe

Introduced into:

Argentina Northeast, Bermuda, Cuba, Haiti, Jamaica, KwaZulu-Natal, Puerto Rico, Sinai, Trinidad-Tobago, Tristan da Cunha

Viola L. appears in other Kew resources:

Date Reference Identified As Barcode Type Status
Melville, R. [1512], Australia 35439.000
Rico, L. [1957], Morocco K000564913
Drayton, Peru 9025.000
s.coll. [Cat. no. s.n.], Jawa K001132289
Wight, R. [Cat. no. s.n.] Ion K001132797

First published in Sp. Pl.: 933 (1753)

Accepted by

  • Nikitin, V. (2008 publ. 2009). Violets (Viola L., Violaceae) of republic of Tuva Novosti Sistematiki Vysshikh Rastenii 40: 164-183.

Literature

Flora of West Tropical Africa

  • —F.T.A. 1: 105.

Flora Zambesiaca

  • Gen. Pl. ed. 5: 402 (1754).
  • Sp. Pl. 2: 933 (1753)

Flora of Somalia

  • Flora Somalia, Vol 1, (1993) Author: by M. Thulin [updated by M. Thulin 2008]

Flora of Tropical East Africa

  • L., Gen. Pl., ed. 5:402 (1754)
  • Sp. Pl.: 933 (1753)

Flora Zambesiaca
Flora Zambesiaca
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

Flora of Somalia
Flora of Somalia
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

Flora of Tropical East Africa
Flora of Tropical East Africa
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

Herbarium Catalogue Specimens
'The Herbarium Catalogue, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Published on the Internet http://www.kew.org/herbcat [accessed on Day Month Year]'. Please enter the date on which you consulted the system.
Digital Image © Board of Trustees, RBG Kew http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Kew Backbone Distributions
The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Selected Plant Families 2021. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and http://apps.kew.org/wcsp/
© Copyright 2017 World Checklist of Selected Plant Families. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0

Kew Names and Taxonomic Backbone
The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Selected Plant Families 2021. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and http://apps.kew.org/wcsp/
© Copyright 2017 International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Selected Plant Families. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0