Viola hederacea

Location & distribution maps

Phylogeny & links to associated information

Wikipedia links:       Angiosperms > Eudicots > Rosids  >  Fabids > Malpighiales  >  Violaceae > Viola  hederacea

Other links:     

Plant  information

Common name:                Australian violet

Conservation status:  ...

Etymology:   

• Diminutive of viole "violet," from Latin viola "the violet, a violet colour" 

• The Latin specific epithet hederacea means "like ivy", referring to the leaves which resemble the leaves of Hedera species (which are not closely related)

Flowers:                  

• The flowers are usually rather pale and washed-out looking

• The anterior petal (the one at the bottom of the flower when looking face on, is widest towards its apex

Fruit:                         

• The mature seeds are brown

Leaves:         

• Well-developed leaves are distinctive – semicircular in outline, about as broad as long

• Usually rather dark green above and paler beneath

Stem & branches: 

Roots:         

Habit:        

• A small herbaceous perennial 

Habitat:   

Distribution:                  

• Native to Australia

• Common and widespread in Victoria and Tasmania, along the Great Dividing Range in NSW north at least to the Barrington Tops area, in the far south-east of South Australia, and in a small area of the Adelaide Hills between Belair and Mount Lofty

Additional notes:     

• Cultivation

  • True Viola hederacea is infrequently grown in gardens

  • It is a less spectacular plant than the cultivated species Viola banksii, with a more open, less robust habit and less striking flowers

  • Nevertheless, it is easy to cultivate.

  • Most ornamental cultivars labelled as Viola hederacea are actually Viola banksii, which was until recently included within V. hederacea but differs in the more richly coloured flowers with an almost circular anterior petal and almost circular leaves with a deep sinus (V. hederacea has paler flowers with an obovate anterior petal and more or less reniform leaves with a broad sinus)

Sources of information:

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viola_hederacea (2023)