vkingdom Plantae - plants »  divisio Magnoliophyta - flowering plants »  class Rosopsida - eudicots » order Malpighiales »  family Violaceae »  tribus Violeae > genus Viola > section Viola sect. Andinium W. Becker 

section Viola sect. Andinium W. Becker 

Viola anitae J.M. Watson 

Distributional Range: Native Southern America :  ARGENTINA. Neuquén Province, Picunches Department, Cerro Atravesada  

 |International Rock Gardener | Flora del Conosur  IBODA |

Viola anitae is a unique species of section Andinum W. Becker, remote systematically from all others in the section for its rhizomatous habit and imbricated, acaulous rosettes in combination. Viola escondidaensis W. Becker, the only other consectional species to possess equivalent rhizomes, is cauline, not rosulate, and differs in other critical morphological respects such as lamina outline, style crest formation and having glabrous lateral petals 

Distribution : This rare species is only known from two localities 12 km apart in western-central Neuquén Province, northern Patagonia, Argentina. It therefore classifies as a very narrow endemic 

Overall environment and habitats: The new species inhabits level or fairly level mountain tops at ca. 2000 m in a climate zone with a long, fairly dry growing season, and significant precipitation, mainly in the form of snowfall, from late autumn to early spring. Its two localities are markedly unalike in their geology and flora. The type site consists predominantly of angular boulders and rock fragments between low, flat, slanting outcrops, with occasional short vegetative cover in dispersed patches, but completely absent from the immediate vicinity of the violas. By contrast, the other habitat is stable and favourable for a variety of southern Andean dwarf and cushion species, which form a biodiverse, integrated local summit community, incuding the viola. 

Field note: On an exposed upper mountain ridge surfaced by continuous rock débris between low, flat outcrops, and devoid of other immediate vegetation. A few small colonies as locally scattered populations were observed, with individual plants occasionally forming a compact cluster, but usually spreading underground by rhizomes and appearing dispersed on the surface as solitary rosettes or in small numbers 

Etymology: "This very special species is named for a most exceptional person, my dear wife, Anita Flores. She is my indispensable partner and muse in our work on the flora as in every other aspect of my life. Our personal relationship demands that it bears her particular diminutive, Anita. It's a viola, a genus which delights us and is the focus of our botanical studies together. And her life was seriously at risk in the two occasions it was discovered, the first when looking for me, thinking I was in trouble. Partly as a result, and sadly, she has never seen it in its natural habitat. What plant could be more appropriate than this to bear her precious name?" (Watson, J.M)

References:

1. Watson J.M. (2018) Out of the wild blue yonder. Or discovering an unknown viola in Argentinian Patagonia while dogged by the perils of exploration. IRG 108: 55-97