Viola riviniana
Viola riviniana, the common dog-violet, is a species of the genus Viola native to Eurasia and Africa.[1] It is also called wood violet[1] and dog violet.[1] It is a perennial herb of woodland edges, grassland and shady hedge banks. It is found in all soils except acid or very wet.
| Viola riviniana | |
|---|---|
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Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Rosids |
| Order: | Malpighiales |
| Family: | Violaceae |
| Genus: | Viola |
| Species: | V. riviniana |
| Binomial name | |
| Viola riviniana | |
It is a perennial, flowering from April to June.
Viola riviniana was voted the county flower of Lincolnshire in 2002, following a poll by the wild plant conservation charity Plantlife.[2]
Description
Its leaves are usually hairless.
Wildlife value
It is the food plant of the pearl bordered fritillary, small pearl-bordered fritillary, silver-washed fritillary and high brown fritillary butterflies.
Similar species
- sweet violet (Viola odorata) – fragrant; all the leaves are located at the base of the plant; stipules are gland-tipped.
- heath dog violet (Viola canina) – clear blue flowers; narrower leaves; smaller teeth on the stipules.
- marsh violet (Viola palustris) – found in wet places; leaves are kidney-shaped; grows from underground creeping stems; dark-veined flowers; stipules without teeth.
- alpine violet (Viola labradorica) – V. riviniana is sometimes sold by nurseries as V. labradorica.
Hybrids
This species hybridises with early dog-violet (V. reichenbachiana) to produce Viola × bavarica.
References
- "Viola riviniana". Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN). Agricultural Research Service (ARS), United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Retrieved 29 December 2017.
- Plantlife website County Flowers page Archived 2015-04-30 at the Wayback Machine
Further reading
- Partridge, James (2007) Viola × bavarica: the punctual Dog-violet BSBI News 106:8–9 (illustrated with colour photographs on inside back cover of this edition)
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