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The Key To Yellow and Multicoloured Violets



Yellow


Multicoloured

Yellow Violets

ACAULESCENT (without a stem) CAULESCENT (with a stem)
none in New Brunswick Viola pubescens var. scabriuscula

Multicolored violets:

These introduced violets may be separated from the native violets by their foliaceous (leaf-like) stipules that are laciniate or pinnatifid.

ACAULESCENT (without a stem) CAULESCENT (with a stem)
none in New Brunswick Viola arvensis
Viola tricolor
  1. Sepals shorter than the petals by more than 2 mm (about 70 % the length of the petal)
    flowers longer than 1.5 cm;
    corolla yellow-white or yellow-orange with a yellow center, and the upper petals dark blue on the apical half, or dark blue throughout with a yellow center, then you probably have, Viola tricolor

  2. Sepals longer than or at most 2 mm shorter than the petals
    flowers less than 1.0 cm long; corolla often yellow-white with a yellow center, then you probably have, Viola arvensis

Viola pubescens var. scabriuscula

Torrey & Gray smooth yellow violet (yellow forest violet)
(pronounced: VY-oh-lah pew-BES-senz variety ska-BREE-huss-kew-lah)
(pubescens..means; pubescent, i.e., with hairs; scabriuscula..means: somewhat scabrous, i.e., rough) (syn: Viola pensylvanica Michaux)

Rarity Ranking in NB: S4S5 - fairly common to abundant (all our plants are var. scabriuscula)
(The variety pubescens is found in western and southern Quebec, and central Maine, where it is uncommon to rare)


Habitat: in deciduous hardwoods in association with Sugar maple (Acer saccharum), White ash (Fraxinus americana), Red ash (Fraxinus pennsylvanica) and Basswood (Tilia americana), in moist high-terrace floodplain forests in rich loam, in cool, shaded rocky slopes, and at the edge of woods.

Flowering: mid-May to early-June (early spring, when maple leaves are emerging)

Notable features:
  1. the only yellow flowered caulescent (stemmed) violet in New Brunswick;
  2. stems two or more from the apex of the rhizome, with 1 to 3 basal leaves;
  3. leaf blades dark green, with a short apex, glabrous or sparsely pubescent, usually 8 to 15 teeth per margin; 4) flowers yellow, with brown-purple lines;
  4. lateral petals pubescent ("bearded") with hairs rounded at the apex;
  5. stolons absent; rhizomes 3 to 5 mm thick; plants in tufts or form dense colonies;
  6. sepals ciliate, at least at the base (rarely eciliate);
  7. "style capitate, beakless, provided with minute hairs at or around the sides of the summit, the stigma (is) located in a round opening in front of the capitate portion" (Haines 2001)(Infrageneric group: Chamaemelanium), the style is distinctly bent; the ovary is minutely hairy;





style and stigma

Viola pubescens var. scabriuscula

Viola Viola pubescens var. scabriuscula

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Multicolored corolla (introduced violets)

Viola arvensis

Murray (pronounced: VY-oh-lah ar-VEN-siss) European field pansy (wild pansy)
(means: of farmed or cultivated land, of fields) (syn: Viola tricolor var. arvensis (Murray) Boissier)

Rarity Ranking in NB: SE (exotic); is rarely introduced in New Brunswick

Habitat: usually dry, sandy, open, disturbed areas, such as cultivated fields, prairies, pastures, edges of lawns, and roadsides.

Flowering: late-May through June (late spring, when maple leaves have reached their full size)

Notable features:
  1. stems caulescent;
  2. leaf blades longer than wide, bases cuneate; glabrous to pubescent; margin crenate-serrate and ciliate;
  3. stipules foliaceous (leaf-like), laciniate into 5 to 9 lateral segments and a larger terminal segment;
  4. flowers less than 1.5 cm long, cream (pale yellow) with a yellow center, sometimes with purple tips; usually frontally flattened;
  5. sepals ciliate, longer than or at most 2 mm shorter than the petals;
  6. lateral petals pubescent with hairs rounded at the apex;
  7. plants taprooted annuals;
  8. "style dilated upward into a globose, hollow apex with a wide orifice on the lower side "(Haines 2001) (Infrageneric group: Melanium), style is distincty bent, the ovary has minute hairs.

style and stigma

Viola arvensis

Viola arvensis

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Viola tricolor

Linnaeus (pronounced: VY-oh-lah TRY-kull-lur) Johnny-jump-up
(means: three colors, of the petals)

Rarity Ranking in NB: SE (exotic), is rarely introduced in New Brunswick

Habitat: garden escape around habitations, lawns, cultivated fields, roadsides;

Flowering: mid-May through June (mid to late spring, when maple leaves are developing and when they have reached their full size);

Notable features:
  1. stems caulescent, angled;
  2. leaf blades longer than wide, bases cuneate; glabrous to pubescent; margin crenate-serrate and ciliate;
  3. stipules foliaceous (leaf-like), pinnatifid, the terminal lobe toothed;
  4. flowers 1.5 cm to 2.5 cm long, cream (pale yellow) with a yellow center, the tips of the upper petals are purple;
  5. sepals ciliate or eciliate, shorter than the petals by more than 2 mm (about 70 % the length of the petal);
  6. lateral petals pubescent with hairs rounded at the apex;
  7. plants annuals; taproot 1 to 3 mm thick
  8. "style dilated upward into a globose, hollow apex with a wide orifice on the lower side "(Haines 2001) (Infrageneric group: Melanium), style is distincty bent, the ovary has minute hairs.

style and stigma

Viola tricolor (Haines 2001)

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Violet Intro; Violet Features; Key to Violet/Purple/Blue; Key to White

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