Vascular Plants of North Carolina
Account for Triangle-leaved Violet - Viola emarginata   (Nuttall) Leconte
Members of Violaceae:
Members of Viola with account distribution info or public map:
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Section 6 » Family Violaceae
Author(Nuttall) Leconte
DistributionA species with a checkered past, varying from species (as in RAB [1968]) to fully lumped, or treated as a hybrid between V. sagittata and some other species. Weakley (2018) included this within V. sagittata, but his 2020 version has it split back out again. SERNEC has some specimens annotated to V. emarginata, but others are likely still included under V. sagittata.

Southeastern NY to NC and northern GA; seemingly not found in KY and TN.
AbundanceFairly common to locally common in the Piedmont and the upper Coastal Plain, but rare to uncommon in the mountains.
HabitatMargins and openings of upland forests, rocky places, and acidic barrens.
PhenologyBlooms from late March to early May, and fruits soon afterward.
IdentificationSee Weakley (2020). In general, this blue-flowered violet has rather triangular leaves, with several large teeth at the bases, and the leaf base is usually truncate. V. sagittata has leaves about twice as long as wide, rather than barely longer than wide as in this species; and that species has leaves often rather erect. V. sagittata also favors damp open ground, whereas V. emarginata occurs in dry, barren sites.
Taxonomic CommentsRAB (1968) does list this species, with several varieties. Weakley (2020) lists three varieties, but the website editors are not yet ready to parcel out records into these, for now -- especially considering that even the full species "waffles" in its own taxonomic treatment!

General note on Viola: In 2009-10 B.A. Sorrie (website map editor) went through the whole collection at NCU, annotating all specimens against those verified by experts in the genus. The range maps in RAB (1968) have been changed accordingly. More recently, H. Ballard and students are in the process of revising all Southeastern Viola, and they will recognize additional species; this work has now been published (see above). We will follow updated editions of Weakley in recognizing them.
Other Common Name(s)None?
State Rank[S5]
Global RankGNA [G5]
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