Jepson eFlora: Taxon page
Vascular Plants of California
Key to families | Table of families and genera
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Violaceae
VIOLET FAMILY


Violaceae
Habit: Annual, perennial herb, [small shrub, tree, vine], from caudices, taproots, rhizomes, or stolons; hairs 0 or simple. Stem: 0 or prostrate to erect. Leaf: basal, cauline, or both, alternate, [opposite], simple to compound, petioled; stipules generally small; blade linear to round, entire to toothed or lobed. Inflorescence: flowers 1 [raceme], axillary or scapose; peduncle bractlets 2, generally alternate. Flower: bisexual, bilateral [radial]; sepals 5, free, basal lobes present [0], generally not prominent; petals 5, free, lowest often largest, base +- elongated into a spur; stamens 5, alternate petals, filaments short, wide, with large in-pointing hairs, lowest 2 anthers with basal nectaries extending into petal spur; ovary superior, chamber 1, placentas parietal, 3, ovules [1] generally many, style 1, often enlarged distally, stigma often oblique or hooked, hairy or not. Fruit: capsule [berry], 3-valved, loculicidal, explosively dehiscent or not. Seed: generally with outgrowth, attractive to ants.
Genera In Family: 23 genera, 830 species: worldwide, generally temperate, tropics (especially higher elevations). Note: Lengths of lowest petal including spur.
Jepson eFlora Author: R. John Little
Reference: Munzinger & Ballard 2003 Syst Bot 28:345--351
Unabridged Reference: Baird, V.B. 1942. Wild violets of North Am. University of California Press, Berkeley. Beattie, A. J. and N. Lyons. 1975. Seed dispersal in Viola (Violaceae):adaptations and strategies. Amer. J. Bot. 62: 714--722. Brainerd, E. 1921. Violets of North Am. Vermont Agric. Exp. Sta. Bull. 224. Brizicky, G.K. 1961. The genera of Violaceae in the southeastern United States. J. Arnold Arbor. 42: 321--333. Clausen, J. 1929. Chromosome number and relationship of some North American species of Viola. Annals of Botany. 43: 741--764. Clausen, J. 1964. Cytotaxonomy and distributional ecology of western North American violets. Madroño 17:173--197. Gershoy, A. 1928. Studies in North American violets. I. General considerations. Vermont Agric. Exp. Sta. Bull. 279.
Scientific Editor: Thomas J. Rosatti.
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Citation for this treatment: R. John Little 2012, Violaceae, in Jepson Flora Project (eds.) Jepson eFlora, https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/eflora_display.php?tid=282, accessed on April 19, 2024.

Citation for the whole project: Jepson Flora Project (eds.) 2024, Jepson eFlora, https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/, accessed on April 19, 2024.