Viola dactyloides Roem. & Schult.

Herbs perennial, acaulescent, 7-20 cm tall. Rhizome slightly obliquely ascending, short, 6-20 mm, with numerous red-brown roots. Leaves basal, long petiolate; stipules greenish, ovate-lanceolate, over 1/2 adnate to petioles, free part long acuminate at apex, margin entire or remotely fimbriate-denticulate, dry membranous; petiole to 15 cm, usually white puberulous in lower part, glabrescent; leaf blade 5-palmatisect, segments oblong, oblong-ovate, or broadly lanceolate, 3-4 × 0.5-1 cm (slightly accrescent at fruiting), abaxially more densely puberulous along veins and margin, adaxially glabrous or sparsely puberulous, base acuminate and shortly stipitate, stipes white puberulous or glabrous, margin remotely serrate or slightly repand, or shallowly emarginate-dentate, sometimes some segments shallowly or deeply 2- or 3-lobed, apex ± acute. Flowers purplish, large, fragrant, long pedicellate; pedicels deep green, usually not exceeding leaves, glabrous, 2-bracteolate below middle; bracteoles linear, small, 5-8 mm, margin entire or few denticulate. Sepals oblong or lanceolate, ca. 8 mm, apex slightly obtuse, basal auricles short, only 1-1.5 mm, 3-veined, margin narrowly membranous, apex truncate. Upper petals broadly obovate, ca. 1.6 × 0.85 cm, claw ca. 4.5 mm; lateral petals oblong-obovate, ca. 1.5 × 0.7 cm, conspicuously bearded; anterior petal obovate, 2-2.3 cm (spur included), spur long, 5-6 mm, stout, ca. 2.5 mm in diam., slightly curved upward, apex obtuse. Anthers ca. 2 mm, appendage of connectives ca. 2 mm, spur of 2 anterior stamens long, ca. 4 mm, slender, 0.2-0.6 mm in diam. Ovary ovoid-globose, ca. 2 mm, glabrous; styles slender at base and geniculate forward, conspicuously thickened in upper part; stigmas 2-lobed, slightly thickened and narrowly margined on lateral sides, margin erect, slightly concave in central part, shortly beaked in front, beak obliquely ascending and larger, with a small stigma hole at tip. Capsule purplish (immature), ellipsoid, ca. 7 mm, glabrous, apex acute. Seeds brown-red, ovoid-globose, ca. 2.5 mm, ca. 2 mm in diam. Fl. and fr. May-Aug. 2n = 24.

N Hebei, Heilongjiang, Jilin, Liaoning, Nei Mongol [Mongolia, Russia].

Deciduous broad-leaved forests, mixed needle-leaved and broad-leaved forests, forest margins, thickets, shaded rock crevices; 500-700 m.

Viola dactyloides var. multipartita W. Becker.