Viola lutea

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Mountain pansy
Viola lutea 05.jpg
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Malpighiales
Family: Violaceae
Genus: Viola
Species:
V. lutea
Binomial name
Viola lutea

Viola lutea, the mountain pansy, [1] is a species of flowering plant in the Viola genus of the viola family, Violaceae. This evergreen perennial grows in Europe, from the British Isles to the Balkans.

Contents

Description

Viola lutea is a compact plant with bright oval green leaves, growing to a height of around 20 centimetres (8 in). Its flowers are 20–35 mm (0.8–1.4 in) in diameter, and are typically golden yellow, although some individuals may have blue, purple or blotched flowers instead. [2]

Taxonomy

Viola lutea was first described by William Hudson in his 1762 Flora Anglica . [3]

The Latin specific epithet lutea means “yellow”. [4]

Infraspecifics

V. lutea subsp. lutea is native to central and north-western Europe, from the British Isles to Austria; another subspecies occurs further east, from Hungary to the Balkans. [5]

Two particular infraspecifics are V. lutea subsp. calaminaria which occurs in the southernmost Netherlands and eastern Belgium, and V. lutea var. westfalica, which only occurs at an extremely small locality near Blankenrode in East Westphalia, Germany. Both taxa have relatively recently evolved to take advantage of the local pollution left over after centuries of mining for metals in these locations. The subspecies calaminaria grows in areas where the mine tailings for zinc ore have been dumped, and the variety westfalica grows on heaps of lead ore waste. Both taxa have managed to become the dominant plant species in their extremely small habitats. [6]

Distribution

Within Great Britain, Viola lutea is found only in upland areas north of a line drawn between the Severn and Humber estuaries; it ranges in altitude from 200 metres (660 ft) in Derbyshire to 1,070 m (3,500 ft) in Breadalbane. [5] In Ireland, its distribution is more scattered geographically, and ranges vertically from sea level in County Clare to 380 m (1,250 ft) in the Wicklow Mountains. [5]

Cultivation

Viola lutea is cultivated as an ornamental plant, for a position in full sun or partial shade with rich soil. [7]

It is the main progenitor for the common cultivated garden pansy, V. × wittrockiana. This hybrid was created by gardeners in Britain in the early 19th century.[ citation needed ]

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<i>Crocus sieberi</i> Species of flowering plant

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<i>Arenaria norvegica</i> Species of flowering plant

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<i>Viola bertolonii</i> Species of flowering plant

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<i>Viola cornuta</i> Species of flowering plant in genus Viola

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<i>Gladiolus communis</i> Species of flowering plant

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Viola lutea var. westfalica</span> Species of plant

Viola lutea var. westfalica, also known as high calamine pansy, Westphalia pansy, or zinc pansy, is a variety of violet native to Westphalia, Germany. It is found in the wild only in the districts of Paderborn, Hoexter and Hochsauerlandkreis, although it is cultivated in other locations. These are industrial areas where much of the soil is contaminated with lead, zinc and other metals, which some Viola species are more able to tolerate than some other plants.

<i>Iris attica</i> Species of plant

Iris attica, the Greek iris, is a plant species in the genus Iris, it is also in the subgenus Iris. It is a rhizomatous perennial, from the mountains of the Balkans in Europe, within the countries of Greece, former Yugoslavia, Turkey and North Macedonia. It has sage green or grey-green leaves, that are sickle-shaped, a stout short stem and 2 variable flowers, in shades from yellow to purple. They have a white or blue beard. It is often called Iris pumila subsp attica, but is classified in most sources, as a separate species, although it is closely related to Iris pumila, as a possible parent plant. It is cultivated as an ornamental plant in temperate regions.

<i>Viola lutea <span style="font-style:normal;">subsp.</span> calaminaria</i> Subspecies of flowering plant

Viola lutea subsp. calaminaria is a subspecies of V. lutea, in the violet family, the Violaceae. The plant occurs from Kelmis in the Belgian province of Liège across the borders to Germany and the Netherlands. The plant has adapted to an excess of zinc in the tailings of a former mines, the heaps of stone left over after separating the valuable fraction of ore. By evolving the ability to cope with the toxic heavy metal pollution, this violet has gained an advantage over the other plants in the ecosystem, as is able to become the locally dominant floral component of such habitats.

References

  1. BSBI List 2007 (xls). Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland. Archived from the original (xls) on 2015-06-26. Retrieved 2014-10-17.
  2. Clive A. Stace (2011). "Viola L. – violets". New Flora of the British Isles (3rd ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp.  332–335. ISBN   978-0-521-70772-5.
  3. William Hudson (1762). "Viola". Flora Anglica. London: published by the author. pp. 330–332.
  4. Harrison, Lorraine (2012). RHS Latin for Gardeners. United Kingdom: Mitchell Beazley. ISBN   184533731X.
  5. 1 2 3 O. E. Balme (1954). "Viola Lutea Huds". Journal of Ecology . 42 (1): 234–240. JSTOR   2256996.
  6. Hildebrandt, Ulrich; Hoef-Emden, K.; Backhausen, S.; Bothe, Hermann; Bożek, M.; Siuta, A.; Kuta, Elzbieta (March 2006). "The rare, endemic zinc violets of Central Europe originate from Viola lutea Huds". Plant Systematics and Evolution. 257 (3): 205–222. doi:10.1007/s00606-005-0387-4 . Retrieved 26 October 2020.
  7. "Viola lutea". RHS. Retrieved 27 September 2023.