Viola riviniana

Viola riviniana, the common dog-violet, is a species of flowering plant in the family Violaceae, native to Eurasia and Africa.[1] It is also called wood violet[1] and dog violet.[1] It inhabits woodland edges, grassland and shady hedge banks. It is found in all soils except those which are acid or very wet.

Viola riviniana
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Malpighiales
Family: Violaceae
Genus: Viola
Species:
V. riviniana
Binomial name
Viola riviniana

Growing to 10 cm (3.9 in) tall and 50 cm (20 in) broad, this prostrate perennial has dark green, heart-shaped leaves and produces multiple violet coloured flowers in May and June.[2]

Viola riviniana was voted the county flower of Lincolnshire in 2002, following a poll by the wild plant conservation charity Plantlife.[3]

Distribution

Common in Ireland[4] and all the British Isles.[5]

Wildlife value

It is the food plant of the pearl bordered fritillary, small pearl-bordered fritillary, silver-washed fritillary and high brown fritillary butterflies.

It is a known host of the pathogenic fungus Puccinia violae.[6]

Similar species
  • Viola odorata (sweet violet) – fragrant; all the leaves are located at the base of the plant; stipules are gland-tipped
  • Viola canina (heath dog violet) – clear blue flowers; narrower leaves; smaller teeth on the stipules
  • Viola palustris (marsh violet) – found in wet places; leaves are kidney-shaped; grows from underground creeping stems; dark-veined flowers; stipules without teeth
  • Viola labradorica (alpine violet) – V. riviniana is sometimes sold by nurseries as V. labradorica

Hybrids

This species hybridises with early dog-violet (V. reichenbachiana) to produce Viola × bavarica.

References
  1. "Viola riviniana". Germplasm Resources Information Network. Agricultural Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture. Retrieved 29 December 2017.
  2. "Viola riviniana". www.rhs.org. Royal Horticultural Society. Retrieved 5 March 2021.
  3. Plantlife website County Flowers page Archived 2015-04-30 at the Wayback Machine
  4. Webb, D.A., Parnell, J., and Doogue, D. 1996. An Irish Flora. University Press. ISBN 0-85221-131-7
  5. Clapham, A.R., Tutin, T.G. and Warburg, E.F. 1968. Excursion Flora of the British Isles. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-04656-4
  6. Helgi Hallgrímsson & Guðríður Gyða Eyjólfsdóttir (2004). Íslenskt sveppatal I - smásveppir [Checklist of Icelandic Fungi I - Microfungi. Fjölrit Náttúrufræðistofnunar. Náttúrufræðistofnun Íslands [Icelandic Institute of Natural History]. ISSN 1027-832X

Further reading
  • Partridge, James (2007) Viola × bavarica: the punctual Dog-violet BSBI News 106:8–9 (illustrated with colour photographs on inside back cover of this edition)

Media related to Viola riviniana at Wikimedia Commons


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