kingdom Plantae - plants »  divisio Magnoliophyta - flowering plants »  class Rosopsida - eudicots » order Malpighiales »  family Violaceae »  tribus Violeae > genus Viola > Viola sect. Viola  L. > Viola subsect. Rostratae Kupffer    

Viola canina L. - Heath Dog-violet

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Synon.:  V. montana auct., non L. ; V. canina subsp. montana auct., non (L.) Hartm.; V. nemoralis Kütz.; V. canina subsp. nemoralis (Kütz.) Elven

                Viola canina subsp. canina; Viola canina subsp. schultzii; Viola canina var. canina

Common name:  dog violet; heath dog violet; heath violet; ängsviol

Description: Hemicryptophyte. Rhizomatous, caulescent perennial. Rhizome vertical, branching at or below the soil surface, covered with numerous brown stipules; terminal leaf rosette absent. Aerial stems ascending to erect, to 30 cm but often much smaller, glabrous. Stem leaves 4–7; stipules almost linear to lanceolate, upper ones to 30 mm, 0.3–1.7 times as long as the petiole, brownish or green, minutely toothed; petiole to 2.5 cm, decreasing in length towards the top of the stem, glabrous, shorter than the blade; blade ovate to oblong-ovate, 12–50 × 10–27 mm, 1–2 times as long as wide, deep green to grey-green; glabrous or with scattered hyaline hairs on the upper surface, glabrous or with few hyaline hairs along the veins on the lower surface; margin crenate with 15–20 obtuse teeth or near the base with forward-pointing teeth; base truncate to cordate; apex acute or obtuse.

Chasmogamous flowers scentless, from the middle or upper part of the aerial stems. Pedicels glabrous, to 8 cm, longer than the subtending leaves; bracteoles subulate, in the upper half of the pedicel. Sepals lanceolate, acute, 5–8 × 1.9–2.5 mm (excluding the appendage); appendage suborbicular to truncate, 1.1–1.9 × 1.8–2.5 mm, 0.2–0.3 times as long as the rest of the sepal. Corolla 20 × 20 mm, as high as wide, flat in front view. Petals blue-violet to grey-violet, white at the base, rarely white; upper petals recurved, obovate, obtuse, 10–14 × 5–8 mm, 1.6–2.2 times as long as wide; lateral petals obovate, obtuse to truncate, 10–14 × 4–7 mm, 1.8–2.4 times as long as wide, with hyaline hairs at the throat; spurred petal 13–17 × 6–9 mm excluding the spur, 1.7–2.4 times as long as wide; spur light yellow to light green, cylindric, straight, 3–5 × 2–3 mm, 1.2–1.8 times as long as wide, 2–3.5 times as long as the sepal appendages. Style not papillose. Cleistogamous flowers 3–4 mm; sepal appendages all of the same size. Capsule ovoid, trigonous, obtuse (sometimes apiculate), 7.5–9 mm, glabrous, explosive. Seeds ovoid, 1.7–2.1 × 1–1.3 mm, light to dark brown; elaiosome small. – Spring to early summer (chasmogamous flowers), summer (cleistogamous flowers).

2n=40 (D Sjæ, N Ak 3, Bu 2, Øf, S Sk, Upl), c. 40 (N Ak 3, Bu, Øf). – [2n=40]

Distributional Range: 

• Native 

• Africa 

  • NORTHERN AFRICA: Morocco

• Asia-Temperate 

  • WESTERN ASIA: Turkey (n.)

  • CAUCASUS: Azerbaijan, Russian Federation-Ciscaucasia [Ciscaucasia]

  • SIBERIA: Russian Federation, [Buryatia, Tuva, Krasnoyarsk, Evenk, Taymyr, Chita, Aga Buryat, Irkutsk, Ust Orda Buryat] Russian Federation-Western Siberia [Western Siberia]

  • RUSSIAN FAR EAST: Russian Federation [Khabarovsk, Amur]

• Europe 

  • NORTHERN EUROPE: Denmark, Faroe Islands, Finland, Iceland, Ireland, Norway, Svalbard and Jan Mayen, Sweden, United Kingdom

  • MIDDLE EUROPE: Austria, Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Germany, Hungary, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Poland, Switzerland

  • EASTERN EUROPE: Belarus, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Russian Federation-European part, [European part] Ukraine

  • SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE: Albania, Bulgaria, Former Yugoslavia, Italy, Romania

  • SOUTHWESTERN EUROPE: Andorra, France, Portugal, Spain

• Northern America 

  • SUBARCTIC AMERICA: Greenland

Habitat: Sunny to moderately shady, dry to slightly moist, nutrient-poor to moderately nutrient-rich, more or less humus-rich mineral soil. – Heathland, grazed or mown grassland, slopes, white dunes, rock ledges, open woodland, forest margins; also roadsides, road cuttings, railway banks, gravel pits, etc. In the north mainly in the littoral vegetation of lakes, rivers and brooks, and in scree.

Note: Viola canina is a polymorphic species. In northern Europe, two subspecies have been recognized, said to differ in habit, stipule size, general leaf shape, flower colour, habitat ecology and distribution

References:

1. Aldén, B., S. Ryman, & M. Hjertson. 2012. Svensk Kulturväxtdatabas, SKUD (Swedish Cultivated and Utility Plants Database; online resource) URL: www.skud.info

2. Botanical Society of the British Isles. BSBI taxon database (on-line resource).

3. Castroviejo, S. et al., eds. 1989-. Flora iberica: plantas vasculares de la Peninsula Iberica e Islas Baleares.

4. Czerepanov, S. K. 1995. Vascular plants of Russia and adjacent states (the former USSR) Cambridge University Press.

5. Davis, P. H., ed. 1965-1988. Flora of Turkey and the east Aegean islands.

6. Fennane, M. & M. I. Tattou. 1998. Catalogue des plantes vasculaires rares, menacées ou endémiques du Maroc. Bocconea 8:188.

7. Huxley, A., ed. 1992. The new Royal Horticultural Society dictionary of gardening

8. Komarov, V. L. et al., eds. 1934-1964. Flora SSSR.

9. Liberty Hyde Bailey Hortorium. 1976. Hortus third.

10. Pignatti, S. 1982. Flora d'Italia.

11. Scoggan, H. J. 1978-1979. The flora of Canada, 4 vol.

12. Tutin, T. G. et al., eds. 1964-1980. Flora europaea.