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
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
  1. "Viola riviniana". Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN). Agricultural Research Service (ARS), United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Retrieved 29 December 2017.
  2. 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)

Media related to Viola riviniana at Wikimedia Commons


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