| Section 6 » Family Violaceae |
Show/Hide Synonym
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| Viola eriocarpa | = | Viola pensylvanica | Flora of Virginia | | | Viola eriocarpa | = | Viola pensylvanica | Flora of West Virginia | | | Viola eriocarpa | = | Viola pubescens var. scabriuscula | | | | Viola eriocarpa | = | Viola pubescens var. scabriuscula | | | | Viola eriocarpa | = | Viola pubescens var. scabriuscula | | | | Viola eriocarpa | = | Viola pubescens var. scabriuscula | Ballard, de Paula-Souza, & Wahlert in Kubitzki (2014). Key adapted, in part, from Ballard (1992) and Ballard & Wujek (1994). | | | Viola eriocarpa | = | Viola pubescens var. scabriuscula | Ballard, de Paula-Souza, & Wahlert in Kubitzki (2014). Key adapted, in part, from Ballard (1992) and Ballard & Wujek (1994). | | | Viola eriocarpa | = | Viola pubescens var. scabriuscula | Ballard, de Paula-Souza, & Wahlert in Kubitzki (2014). Key adapted, in part, from Ballard (1992) and Ballard & Wujek (1994). | | | Viola eriocarpa | = | Viola eriocarpa var. leiocarpa | Radford, Ahles, and Bell (1968) | | | Viola eriocarpa | < | Viola pubescens | Gleason and Cronquist (1991) | | | Viola eriocarpa | < | Viola pubescens | Godfrey and Wooten (1979, 1981) | | | Viola eriocarpa | < | Viola pubescens | | | | Viola eriocarpa | < | Viola pubescens | Wofford (1989) | | | Viola eriocarpa | > | Viola pensylvanica var. pensylvanica | Fernald (1950) | | | Viola eriocarpa | > | Viola pensylvanica var. leiocarpa | Fernald (1950) | | | Viola eriocarpa | = | Viola eriocarpon var. leiocarpon | | | | Viola eriocarpa | > | Viola pubescens var. leiocarpon | | | | Source: Weakley's Flora |
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| Author | Schweinitz | |
| Distribution | The taxonomy of Viola eriocarpa and V. pubescens, which have each gone by several names depending on the authority/reference, used to be muddled. Now, however, the current names used by this website are considered to be accurate. Weakley (2018) considers V. pubescens to be the more geographically restricted of the two in NC and is limited mainly to the mountains and foothills. He considers V. eriocarpa to be widespread across the Mountains and Piedmont, and into the western edge of the Coastal Plain (floodplain of Cape Fear River south to Bladen County). As can be seen from the map, the range into the Coastal Plain extends only along a few brownwater rivers (Roanoke and Cape Fear).
This is a mostly Northern and Midwestern species, ranging from Canada south to central NC, central AL, and northeastern TX.
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| Abundance | Fairly common to common in the Mountains. In the Piedmont, most numerous in the eastern half, where infrequent to locally common. Infrequent in the western half of the Piedmont, and along the upper parts of the Roanoke and Cape Fear rivers in the Coastal Plain. | |
| Habitat | This species favors circumneutral, quite rich soil. It grows in Rich Cove Forests, Basic Mesic Forests, and rich brownwater bottomland forests. It rarely is found in drier or more mesic forests. | |
| Phenology | Blooms from March to May, and fruits shortly after flowering. | |
| Identification | This species and V. pubescens must be treated together for general identification. Each has leaves emerging from the flowering stem, heart-shaped with a cordate base, and bright yellow flowers. Weakley (2018) separates the two in his key: V. eriocarpa -- "Stems mostly 2 to several, commonly decumbent proximally or ascending in flower; basal leaves (1) 2 (-5); foliage glabrous or thinly pubescent on upper stem and petioles; leaf blades medium green (paler abaxially); cauline leaves distributed over much of the stem length, ovate, cordate at base, acute to abruptly short-acuminate at apex; [widespread in our region]". V. pubescens -- "Stems 1 (-2), erect in flower; basal leaves 0 (-2); foliage densely pubescent throughout, leaf blades gray-green (paler abaxially); cauline leaves clustered in the uppermost 1/4 of the stem, broadly ovate to reniform, subcordate to broadly cuneate at base, broadly obtuse to rounded at apex; [montane in our region]". V. eriocarpa is a somewhat sprawling or leaning species, with stem leaves scattered along the stem, and with medium green and rather smooth leaves. It is the primary one of the pair found downstate, where it is a good indicator of Basic Mesic Forest natural community. | |
| Taxonomic Comments | Very confusing, and much too confusing to describe here. Many or most references treat these two entities as one species. NatureServe considers this taxon as V. pubescens var. pubescens, and considers V. eriocarpa as V. pubescens var. scabriuscula.
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, Harvey Ballard and colleagues are in the process of revising all Eastern and Southeastern Viola, and have annotated all specimens at NCU in July 2024. They recognize additional species not in RAB or in previous editions of Weakley et al.; we will follow updated editions of Weakley et al. in recognizing them. Species range maps have been adjusted to account for identification changes. | |
| Other Common Name(s) | None | |
| State Rank | [S5] | |
| Global Rank | [G5] | |
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| US Status | | |
| USACE-agcp | | |
| USACE-emp | | |
