kingdom Plantae - plants »  divisio Magnoliophyta - flowering plants »  class Rosopsida - eudicots » order Malpighiales »  family Violaceae »  tribus Violeae > genus Viola > Viola sect. Plagiostigma Godr.  > Viola subsect. Adnatae W. Becker 

Viola nujiangensis Y.S. Chen & X.H. Jin

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Synon.: 

Common name: 

Description: Herbs perennial, acaulescent, 2–5 cm tall. Rhizome stout, erect, branched or unbranched, 1–3 cm long, 1.5–2.5 mm in diameter, often surrounded by remains of leaf petioles of previous year in upper part; root usually stout, grayishwhite, 10–18 cm long, straight descending. Leaves several, all basal; stipules purplish, glabrous, linear-lanceolate, 7–9 mm long, ca. 2/3 adnate to petioles, the free part 3–4 mm long, apex acuminate, margin entire or remotely denticulate; petioles purplish, 1–2.5 cm long, 0.1–0.2 mm wide, narrowly winged in upper part, glabrous; leaf blade ovate to elliptic-ovate, 1–2.5 cm long, 0.4–1 cm wide, both surfaces glabrous, base attenuate, apex obtuse, margin crenuate. Flowers purple-violet, 1–1.5 cm in diameter; pedicels exceeding leaves, slender, 0.1–0.2 mm in diameter, 2- bracteolate above middle; bracteoles subulate-linear, ca. 2 mm long. Sepals triangular, ca. 3 mm long, ca. 1 mm wide, base rounded or truncate, apex acute, margin entire; basal auricles very shorts, 0.1–0.2 mm long. Upper petals obovate, 7–8 mm long, ca. 2.2 mm wide, apex rounded; lateral petals oblong 8–9 mm long, ca. 2.3 mm wide, apex rounded, glabrous; anterior petal ca. 1.2 cm long including spur, ca. 2 mm wide, apex rounded; spur ca. 4 mm long, 1.3–1.6 mm in diameter. Stamens 5, anthers ca. 2 mm long. Ovary ovoid-globose, glabrous; style clavate, base conspicuously geniculate; stigma flat at top, conspicuously margined on lateral sides, shortly breaked in front. Capsule ovoid, 5–6 mm long, glabrous. Flowering from March to April; fruiting from April to May 

Distributional Range: Native Asia-Temperate CHINA: China [Gongshan, northwestern Yunnan]

Habitat: grows on sandy or rocky slopes of fluctuating zone of rivers at altitudes of ca. 1450 m. 

Etymology : The specific epithet is derived from the type locality name, Nujiang River (=Salween River) .

Notes: It is most similar to V. perpusilla Boissieu (1908: 468) in its acaulescent habit, leaf shape and size, small sepals with very short auricles, but differs by its rhizome and root stout, spur ca. 4 mm long, stipules and petiole purplish, leaf blade glabrous on both surfaces, whereas V. perpusilla is distinct by rhizome and root slender, spur ca. 2 mm long, stipules whitish and membranous, leaf blade adaxially pubescent. Viola nujiangensis is currently known only from Gongshan County, northwestern Yunnan, whereas V. perpusilla occurs in Cangshan Mountain, central Yunnan, growing on grassy slopes at altitudes of 2800–3000 m, flowering from June to October 

References:

1. Chen Y-S. (2015) Viola nujiangensis (Violaceae), a new species of from northwestern Yunnan, China  Phytotaxa 230 (2): 193–197   http://dx.doi.org/10.11646/phytotaxa.230.2.7 (link)