Selkirk's Violet

Herbs perennial, acaulescent and without stolon, 5-16 cm tall. Rhizome cordlike, occasionally separated, producing vegetative clones. Leaves basal, usually numerous, rosulate; stipules greenish, ca. 1/2 adnate to petiole, free part lanceolate, margin remotely glandular denticulate, base narrowly and deeply cordate, margin obtusely dentate, apex ± acute or obtuse; petiole 2-7 cm, to 13 cm in fruit, narrowly winged, sparsely white puberulous or glabrous; leaf blade ovate-cordate or slightly reniform, 1-5 × 1-3.5 cm at anthesis, ca. 6 × 4 cm at fruiting, thinly papery, strigose on the upper surface, glabrous or occasionally pubescent below; blades with narrow, deep sinus and lobes touching or slightly overlapping. Flowers long pedicellate, pedicels 4-7 cm, slightly or not exceeding leaves, glabrous, usually 2-bracteolate at middle; bracteoles linear, 5-7 mm, margin remotely denticulate. Sepals ovate-lanceolate, 6-7 mm, margin narrowly membranous, 3-veined, apex acute, basal auricles oblong, ca. 2 mm, apex irregularly emarginate and sparsely ciliate. Petals light blue, purple or white, obovate, all beardless, anterior one 1.5-2 cm (spur included); spur 5-7 mm, 2-3 mm in diam., apex rounded, straight or slightly curved upward. Ovary glabrous; styles clavate, base slightly geniculate forward, conspicuously thickened in upper part; stigmas flat at top, narrowly margined on lateral sides, shortly beaked in front, beak with an upward stigma hole at tip. Capsule ellipsoid, small, 6-8 mm, glabrous, apex obtuse. Seeds numerous, brownish, ovoid-globose, ca. 2 mm, ca. 1.1 mm in diam. Fl. Apr-May, fr. Jun-Sep. 2n = 12, 24.

Hebei, Heilongjiang, Jilin, Liaoning, Nei Mongol, N Shaanxi [Japan, Korea, Mongolia, Russia; Europe, North America].

Mixed needle-leaved and broad-leaved forests, deciduous broad-leaved forests, thickets, stream valleys; 400-1500 m.

Viola selkirkii var. albiflora Nakai; V. selkirkii var. angustistipulata W. Becker; V. selkirkii var. brevicalcarata W. Becker; V. selkirkii var. subbarbata W. Becker; V. selkirkii var. variegata Nakai.