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

Viola austrosinensis Y. S. Chen & Q. E. Yang

| Bio Lib | 

Description:  HERBS perennial. RHIZOME usually short, 1–4 cm, 2.5–5 mm in diameter. STOLONS slender and elongated, glabrous, with scattered leaves, rooting at nodes or internodes. LEAVES coriaceous, nearly basal, alternate on stolons; stipules adnate to petiole only at base, brown or greenish, dark striate, broadly lanceolate, 1.2–1.8 cm ¥ 3–4 mm, margin long fimbriate-dentate, apex acuminate; petiole 2–7 cm, purplish-red, glabrous, wingless; leaf blade ovate or broadly ovate, 2–7 ¥ 1.6–4.5 cm, deep green and glabrous on adaxial surface, glabrous and purplish-red along veins on abaxial surface, base cordate, margin distinctly crenate, apex obtuse. FLOWERS pinkish white; pedicels usually exceeding leaves, glabrous, 2-bracteolate about the middle; bracteoles opposite, linear, 6–7 mm; sepals purplish-red, lanceolate, 6–7 mm, apex acuminate, basal auricles short, c. 0.5 mm, glabrous, apex obtuse; petals oblong-obovate, 1–1.3 cm, lateral petals glabrous, lower petal shorter, c. 10 mm long (spur included), distinctly pinkish violet striped, apex usually acute; spur saccate, 2–2.5 mm, c. 2.5 mm in diameter; spur of 2 anterior stamens angular, slightly longer than anthers, apex acute; style clavate, apex beaked and conspicuously margined on lateral sides. CAPSULES narrowly orbicular, 5–6 mm, glabrous. Flowering March–April, fruiting June–September 

Distributional Range: Native Asia-Temperate CHINA: China [ Guangxi, Hainan ] endemic

Habitat:  In humus under shady mixed forests at altitudes of 500– 1800 m. 

References:

1. YOU-SHENG CHEN and QIN-ER YANG  A new species of Viola (Violaceae) from southern China Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, 2008, 158, 755–761