kingdom Plantae - plants »  divisio Magnoliophyta - flowering plants »  class Rosopsida - eudicots » order Malpighiales »  family Violaceae »  tribus Violeae > genus Viola > Viola sect. Erpetion  (Sweet) Benth. & Hook f.  

Viola eminens K. R. Thiele & Prober

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Synonyms: 

Distributional Range: Native Australasia AUSTRALIA: Australia [in disjunct localities on the Fleurieu Peninsula in South Australia, in the Grampians and Otway Ranges in western Victoria, and from near Melbourne through eastern Victoria to far southern New South Wales ]

Description: Perennial herb spreading by stolons; rootstock sometimes somewhat swollen and bulbous at the stem bases. Stems contracted so that the leaves form rosettes, or sometimes elongate (to 40 cm) with caulescent, alternate leaves. Leaves broad-reniform, the largest (10–)12–15(–25) mm long, (12–)25–35(–45) mm wide, 1.4–3.2 times wider than long, truncate at base or with a broad basal sinus; lamina with (6–)9–20 +/- prominent teeth, glabrous or with scattered unicellular hairs on the upper and/or lower surface, +/- concolorous bright green; petioles 2–12 cm long; stipules narrowly triangular to broadly triangular, usually with several small or elongate, glandular teeth on each side. Flowers on scapes to 25 cm long and exceeding the leaves, usually strongly discolorous violetand-white, sometimes sub-discolorous (dark violet and pale violet); anterior petal (5–)8–10(–12) mm long, (3–)5–6(–9) mm wide, distinctly and regularly ovate to broadovate, broadest in the proximal third (or occasionally to near the middle), usually emarginate, with a large green V-shaped blotch at the base, then rich violet for over half its length contrasting sharply with a small white apex, prominently 3-nerved, the midnerve not or scarcely anastomosing with the lateral nerves which branch +/- regularly towards the margins; lateral petals widely spreading, (6–)9–11(–13) mm long, strongly twisted to c. 180°, rich violet at the base grading to white distally; beard covering half or more of the width of the lateral petals; dorsal petals (5–)10–12(–13) mm long, (2–)4–6(–7) mm wide, obovate to broadly obovate (rarely narrowly obovate), erect to strongly reflexed, rich violet at the flexure, white for most of their length. Anthers 2.0–4.5 mm long, cream, often flushed or flecked with violet, the terminal appendages strawcoloured, with short, irregular hairs on the outer margins of the anther cells; anther glands whitish green (never purplish), almost as long as the anther cells, narrow and high, +/- smooth, not or scarcely flattened or depressed; pollen and interior margins of the anther cells yellow to golden. Ovary and fruit whitish or pale green, often flecked or flushed purple; style distinctly geniculate at its insertion on the ovary. Seeds 1.6–2.6 mm long, glossy purplish-black, +/- smooth to distinctly rugose 

Habitat: In eastern Victoria V. eminens is a characteristic species of moist sites at high altitudes, from Toolangi and Mt Donna Buang to Mt Baw Baw and Mt Wellington, on Mt Buffalo, and in East Gippsland around the Errinundra Plateau. It has not been collected from the Cobberas Range, even though conditions there appear suitable. It almost always occurs in moist sites, either in moist grassland beneath snow gums or on the margins of swamps and in drainage lines. It is infrequent at lower altitudes (e.g. Den of Nargun, Mitchell River National Park near Bairnsdale). At some sites (e.g. along moist road verges near Goonmirk Rocks, Errinundra Plateau, East Gippsland) V. eminens and V. hederacea grow in mixed swards, with the flowers of V. eminens borne characteristically higher (on longer scapes) than those of V. hederacea. No intermediates between them have been found, even in ecologically intermediate habitats. In the Grampians Range V. eminens occurs in moist to very moist sites, e.g. along the banks of the McKenzie River at Zumsteins and on wet, dripping banks at Kalymna Falls. At both these sites V. hederacea grows in drier habitats close by the V. eminens populations. In South Australia it always occurs in moist sites along stream lines and in swamps, from the southern tip of the Fleurieu Peninsula (e.g. Tunkalilla Creek) north to the Barossa Valley and on Kangaroo Island. 

Derivation of name. From the Latin eminens, in reference to the distinctively tall, stately flowering scapes that are characteristic of the species 

References:

1. Kevin R. Thiele and Suzanne M. Prober: Two new species and a new hybrid in the Viola hederacea species complex Muelleria 18: 7–25 (2003)