Spermatophytes (seed plants): Angiosperms (flowering plants): Eudicots: Core Eudicots: Rosids: Fabids: Malpighiales
WEAKLEY'S FLORA OF THE SOUTHEASTERN US (4/14/23):
Viola hirsutula
FAMILY
Violaceae
Go to FSUS key
Dig deeper at SERNEC, a consortium of southeastern herbaria.
For the most current and comprehensive body of information regarding violets in our region, visit the new website Violets (Violaceae) of the Great Plains and Eastern North America.
Read more about Southern Woodland Violet at Vascular Plants of North Carolina.
This species is distinctive in its spreading to prostrate leaves, the upper surface bicolorous (‘‘variegated’’) with the silvery-green leaf blade divided by deep green or red-purple veins and beset with erect hispid hairs. The lower leaf surface is often purple. On the basis of the relatively short broad variegated leaves alone, it could be misidentified as V. walteri (which is mat-forming by node-rooting stolons) or the acaulescent southern V. villosa, but the foliage and peduncle are glabrous except for the small hispid hairs on the upper leaf blade surface. Read more in Weakley's Flora.
SYNONYMOUS WITH
PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Viola hirsutula
FAMILY
Violaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH A taxonomic treatment of the violets (Violaceae) of the northeastern US and adjacent Canada (Ballard, Kartesz, & Nishino, 2023)
Viola hirsutula
SYNONYMOUS WITH Floristic Synthesis of North America. BONAP (Kartesz, 2021)
Viola hirsutula
SYNONYMOUS WITH Flora of North America north of Mexico, vol. 6 (2015)
Viola hirsutula
SYNONYMOUS WITH Violaceae of the Southeastern US (McKinney & Russell, 2002)
Viola hirsutula
SYNONYMOUS WITH Floristic Synthesis of North America (Kartesz, 1999)
Viola hirsutula
INCLUDED WITHIN Manual of Vascular Plants of NE US & Adjacent Canada (Gleason & Cronquist,1991)
Viola villosa
SYNONYMOUS WITH VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 130-02-007:
Viola hirsutula FAMILY Violaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH Manual of the Southeastern Flora (Small, 1933, 1938)
Viola hirsutula
COMMON NAME:
Southern Woodland Violet, Silvery Purple-leaf Violet, Southern Wood Violet
To see larger pictures, click or hover over the thumbnails.
)
USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database / Britton, N.L., and A. Brown. 1913 pnd_vihi2_001_lhd
)
Herbarium of Clemson University h_cu25251b
April Greenville County SC
)
Herbarium of Clemson University h_cu76882
April Pickens County SC
)
Herbarium of Clemson University h_cu87391b
April Pickens County SC
)
JK Marlow jkm100514_076b
May Greenville County SC
Ashmore Heritage Preserve
Leaves silvery-downy with purple veins above, smooth and purplish beneath, per Wildflowers of the Southern Mountains (Smith, 1998).
)
JK Marlow jkm210516_0346
May Greenville County SC
Tall Pines Wildlife Management Area
Leaves ovate, silvery-pubescent upper and purplish-smooth lower, per Wildflowers of Tennessee (Carman, 2005).
)
JK Marlow jkm210516_0347
May Greenville County SC
Tall Pines Wildlife Management Area
)
JK Marlow jkm210516_0348
May Greenville County SC
Tall Pines Wildlife Management Area
WEAKLEY'S FLORA OF THE SOUTHEASTERN US (4/14/23):
Viola hirsutula
FAMILY
Violaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH
PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Viola hirsutula
FAMILY
Violaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH
A taxonomic treatment of the violets (Violaceae) of the northeastern US and adjacent Canada (Ballard, Kartesz, & Nishino, 2023)
Viola hirsutula
SYNONYMOUS WITH
Floristic Synthesis of North America. BONAP (Kartesz, 2021)
Viola hirsutula
SYNONYMOUS WITH
Flora of North America north of Mexico, vol. 6
Viola hirsutula
SYNONYMOUS WITH
Violaceae of the Southeastern US (McKinney & Russell, 2002)
Viola hirsutula
SYNONYMOUS WITH
Floristic Synthesis of North America (Kartesz, 1999)
Viola hirsutula
INCLUDED WITHIN
Manual of Vascular Plants of NE US & Adjacent Canada (Gleason & Cronquist,1991)
Viola villosa
SYNONYMOUS WITH
VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 130-02-007:
Viola hirsutula
FAMILY
Violaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH
Manual of the Southeastern Flora (Small, 1933, 1938)
Viola hirsutula
1649
Forb
Perennial/Winter annual
Habitat: Bottomlands, moist slopes, dry forests and clearings, per Weakley's Flora
Native to the Carolinas & Georgia
Common (rare in Coastal Plain)
CLICK HERE to see a map, notes, and images from Weakley's Flora of the Southeastern US.
LEAVES:
Simple
Plant acaulescent (without aerial stems)
Margins serrate
Leaf blade densely pubescent above only, sparsely so below and on petiole
FLOWER:
Spring
Blue-violet/Reddish-violet
Bilaterally symmetrical
Lateral petals bearded, spurred occasionally
5 sepals
5 petals
5 stamens
FRUIT:
Spring
Capsule
TO LEARN MORE about this plant, look it up in a good book!
- Newcomb's Wildflower Guide (Newcomb, 1977) p032
- Wildflowers of the Atlantic Southeast (Cotterman, Waitt, & Weakley, 2019) p413
- Wildflowers of Tennessee (Carman, 2005) p080
- Wildflowers of Tennessee, the Ohio Valley, and the Southern Appalachians (Horn, Cathcart, Hemmerly, & Duhl, 2005) p103
- Wildflowers of the Southern Mountains (Smith, 1998) p104
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