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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.
23 genera, 830 species: worldwide, generally temperate, tropics (especially higher elevations). [Munzinger & Ballard 2003 Syst Bot 28:345–351] Lengths of lowest petal including spur. —Scientific Editor: Thomas J. Rosatti.
Unabridged references: [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.]

Leaf: generally deciduous.
Flower: sepals ± equal, entire; petals unequal, lowest generally largest, with spur generally < 3 [20] mm, lateral 2 equal, generally spreading, upper 2 equal, erect or reflexed, overlapped or not, lateral 2 generally, others sometimes with beard of variously shaped hairs basally; cleistogamous flowers generally present, petals 0.
Fruit: ovoid to oblong, hairy or not.
Seed: 8–75.
± 500 species: temperate, worldwide, HI, Andes. (Latin: classical name) Important orns including Viola odorata, Viola tricolor L. (Johnny-jump-up, wild pansy), Viola ×wittrockiana Gams (garden pansy).
Unabridged references: [Baker, M.S. 1949a. Studies in western violets. IV. Leafl. West. Bot. 5: 141–147; Baker, M.S. 1949b. Studies in western violets. VI; Madroño 10: 110–128; Baker, M.S. 1957. Brittonia 9: 217–230; Ballard, H.E. 1992. Systematics of Viola Section Viola in North Am north of Mexico. M.S. thesis, Central Michigan University, Mt. Pleasant, Michigan; Ballard, H.E. 1994. Violets of Michigan. Michigan Botanist 33: 131–199; Davidse, G. 1976. A study of some Intermountain violets (Viola Sect. Chamaemelanium). Madroño 23: 274–283; Fabijan et al. 1987. The taxonomy of the Viola nuttallii complex. Can. J. Bot. 65: 2562–2580; Gil-Ad, N.L. 1995. Systematics and evolution of Viola L. subsection Boreali Americanae (W. Becker) Brizicky. Ph.D. dissertation, Univ of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan; Gil-Ad, N.L. 1997. Systematics of Viola subsection Boreali-Americanae. Boissiera 53: 1–130; Hitchcock, C.L. 1961. Vasc. Plant. Pacific NorthW. Vol. 3; McKinney, L.E. 1992. A taxonomic revision of the acaulescent blue violets (Viola) of North Am. Sida Botanical Miscellany, 7: 1–59; McKinney, L.E. and N. Russell. 2002. Violaceae of the Southeastern United States. Castanea 4: 369–379; Russell, N.H. 1965. Violets (Viola) of the central and eastern United States: an introductory survey. Sida 1: 1–113]

Perennial 7.5–30 cm, glabrous to densely puberulent.
Stem: prostrate to erect, generally several, clustered on 1–several subterranean caudices from woody rhizome.
Leaf: simple; basal 1–5 per caudex, petiole 4.3–19.2 cm, blade 2.3–8.5 cm, 1.4–3.7 cm wide, elliptic or ovate, entire, wavy, or generally irregularly crenate to serrate, base tapered, often oblique to ± truncate, tip acute or obtuse; cauline blade 2.6–5.8 cm, 1.3–3.5 cm wide, like basal.
Inflorescence: axillary; peduncle 2.7–26 cm.
Flower: sepals lanceolate, ciliate or not; petals deep lemon-yellow, upper 2, sometimes lateral 2 maroon or ± brown abaxially, lower 3 veined brown-purple, lateral 2 bearded with cylindric hairs, lowest 12–20 mm.
Fruit: 6–12 mm, elliptic to oblong, glabrous to minutely puberulent.
Seed: 2–3 mm, medium to dark brown, ± 1/3 length covered by outgrowth.
2n=36,48. Study needed; 1 other subsp., ± nw US. [Online Interchange]
Unabridged note: Complex; study needed; hybrids obscure subspp.; 1 other subsp., ID, MT, UT, WA, WY.

Plant 7.5–21 cm.
Leaf: basal and cauline, blade generally ovate, base generally ± truncate; basal 2.3–6.7 cm, not much longer than wide, ± crenate or serrate, wavy, or entire; cauline blade 1.3–3 cm wide.
Inflorescence: peduncle 5.5–26 cm.
Seed: dark brown.
2n=36. Generally in vernally moist soil, slopes, meadows, conifer forest, sagebrush; 122–2440 m. Northwestern California, Cascade Range, n&c High Sierra Nevada, Warner Mountains;

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Citation for the whole project: Jepson Flora Project (eds.) [year] Jepson eFlora, http://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/IJM.html [accessed on month, day, year]
Citation for an individual treatment: [Author of taxon treatment] [year]. [Taxon name] in Jepson Flora Project (eds.) Jepson eFlora, [URL for treatment]. Accessed on [month, day, year].

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Bioregions in which taxon occurs	Red area (if present) is the part of the bioregion lying between the upper and lower elevation limits of the taxon; markers link to CCH specimen records. If the markers are obscured, reload the page [or change window size and reload]. Yellow markers indicate records that may have georeferencing or identification issues.
Chart based on elevation range in Manual and elevations and coordinates of CCH records. Data provided by the participants of the Consortium of California Herbaria. Note: About half of the CCH records include both elevation and coordinates.	Map made in collaboration with Scott Loarie. Data provided by the participants of the Consortium of California Herbaria. View all CCH records   CCH collections by month Duplicates counted once; synonyms included. Species do not include records of infraspecific taxa. Blue line denotes Manual flowering time.