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 curvistylis H. Boissieu & Capit.

| Bio Lib | GRIN| Flora Malesiana  |

Synon.: Viola ovalifolia BECKER ; Viola molvina RIDL. ; Viola serpens (non WALL.) RIDL. ; Viola lecomteana BECKER ex GAGNEP 

Description:  Perennial; Leaves 1-9 by ½-5 cm, about twice as long as broad, elliptic to lanceolate-ovate, shallowly cordate to cuneate at base, acute, serrate or crenate-serrate, hirsute on both sides, rarely pubescent or glabrous, pale green; Stipules 7-11 by 1-5 mm, linear-lanceolate, long-acute, long-fimbriate, glabrous, green or fuscous, free. Flowers 8-11 mm, violet or white with darker veins; Sepals 4-6 by 0.6-1 mm, triangular- to linear-lanceolate, acuminate. entire, sometimes pubescent near base, usually ciliate; Petals 2-3 times as long as broad; Capsule 6-10 mm, globose to oblong, glabrous or pubescent. 

Distributional Range: Native Asia-Tropical INDO-CHINA: Myanmar MALESIA: Indonesia, [Sumatera] Malaysia (Malaya & Sabah)

Habitat:  In humus under shady mixed forests 

Notes: Differs from V. sumatrana in having bearded lateral petals and usually pilose leaves, and from V. pilosa in the prominent lateral margin of the style apex and in the usually rounded short calycine appendages, and from both species in leaf-shape. It is apparently sympatric with V. sumatrana in the Malay Peninsula (Pahang) and North Borneo (Mt Kinabalu), and with both V. sumatrana and V. pilosa on Mt Kerintji, Central Sumatra. The specific name derives from the curved, short style in the cleistogamous flowers of the type specimen; the species would be much better designated by BECKER'S epithet ovalifolia.

References:

1. Okamoto, M. 1984. A new species of Viola collected in East Kalimantan, with notes on seed dispersal of the allied species concerned. Bull. Osaka Mus. Nat. Hist. 37:13.

2. Steenis, C. G. G. J. van, ed. 1948-. Flora malesiana.