On my second visit, I found some white violets.
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| Viola lanceolata. |
Nice little flowers. It is the flowers that catches my eyes. Then I investigate further.
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| Viola lanceolata. Acaulescent - having no stem, or only a very short one concealed in the ground |
This violet doesn't appear to have much of a stem. The leaves grow from the rhizome, the root/stem looking structure on the ground.
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| Viola lanceolata |
From this rhizome are the leaves and the flower. The flower looks like it come right from the ground. Flowers that come up from the roots are described as "scape" - a leafless flower stalk growing directly from the root. But in this case it might be the "rhizome" - an underground stem that continuously grows. So can scape be used? Maybe not. Yet the flower stem has no leaves.
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| Viola lanceolata. White flower with some purple streaks in the lower, center petal. |
A nice 5 petaled flower. Look at that center lower petal, a few streaks of purple.
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| Viola lanceolata |
The flowers are not without defense! Look at the leaf swords these flowers wield! Ok, ok, they aren't for protection. Just these violets have long pointed leaves.
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| Violets in pine straw. Viola lanceolata. |
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| Viola lanceolata. Lance-like leaves. |
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| Viola primulifolia. Rounded leaves. |
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| Viola primulifolia. |
Sure enough, this is another species. To identify these violets I reference "Guide to the Vascular Plants of Florida" 3rd Edition 2011 by Richard P. Wunderlin and Bruce F. Hansen. I can tell these are violets by the flower shape. We just have to chalk that up to experience, I won't go key the entire plant out as I have done in other posts. On page 623, if you are following along, the Violaceae family has Hybanthus and Viola. Hybanthus is like the ugly cousin no one knows about. They don't look like true violets to me. I bypass that genus and head straight to Viola.
Oh No! Ten different Viola species! How will we even identify them our violets! Well lets give it a try.
The first lead lists plants caulescent or acaulescent. Translated: plants with your typical stem or without your typical stem. The leaves and flowers of both these violets seem to come out of the ground. No typical stem. Wabam! This eliminates 5 choices of species. Looking good team.
The next lead asks if the flowers are white with sometimes lined with purpole, or are the flowers blue to violet and sometimes with a white center? Easy, our violets should be called whitlets because they are more white than purple. Me being an awful photographer, well I didn't get a good center photo of the second species. Maybe it could have some purple on it. Anyway, white is right on this question. Wabam! This eliminates 3 chioces of species. Looking good team.
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| Difference between cuneate and subcordate. Cordate means heart-shaped. |
Now we have 2 choices.
Viola lanceolata - leaves linaear to lanceolate, the base cuneate. Translated, sword-like leaves that I mentioned above. Cuneate... no indent at the base of the leave where it is attached to the petiole - the stem that joins a leaf to the stem.
Viola primulifolia - leaves ovate to elliptic, the base rounded to subcordate. Leaves are ovate - egg shaped. Or elliptic, shaped like a football... in a sense. Subcordate means nearly heart-shaped, yet not completely. Cordate means heart-shaped.
Well comparing our pictures to these choices what do we choose? Both! The first pictures are of Viola lanceolata. The last 2 are of Viola primulifolia.
I confirmed this with BONAP. Looks good to me.
"Aquatic and wetland plants of Southeastern United States Dicotyledons" 1981 by Godfrey and Wooten have basically the same type of dichotomous key that leads to 3 species: the two above and a V. pallens which is not listed in BONAP, and internet search images show it is more cordate- heart shaped. But this book does give some description to the area these plants grow. V. primulifolia is mentioned to grow in "bogs, meadows, depressions in pine savannas and flatwoods, moist to wet ditches..." V. lanceolata is mentioned to grow in "bogs, meadows, borders to bodies of water, seasonally wet pine savannas and flatwoods, wet ditches...[some paraphrasing, not an exact quote]." Both seem wet, meadowy (my own word), and around pine trees. The pine trees make the ground acidic as the pine needles, leaves break down.
"Manual of the Vascular Flora of the Carolinas" 1968 by Albert E. Radford, Harry E. Ahles, and C. Ritchie Bell had similar leads to key out the identification of these two violets. Caulescent vs acaulescent. Then a twist! Are leaves deeply dissected or lobed? Well these are not dissected. Dissected being having fingers. Our leaves are round for the most part. Then we get back on track to petal color. Seems these two violets are as close together in the identification books as they are kind of growing in the wild. I didn't see the two together. V. primulifolia seemed to be in a slightly drier area, maybe more so sandy. V. lanceolata seemed more in a ditch. Still in the moist, pine, flatwoods. All sandy. The book says V. lanceolata likes it wet and sandy. V. primulifolia is mentioned for bogs and savannahs.
Thank you for reading!
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