Viola riviniana
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Viola riviniana, the common dog-violet, is a species of flowering plant in the family Violaceae, native to Eurasia and Africa.<ref name=GRIN>Template:GRIN</ref> It is also called wood violet<ref name=GRIN/> and dog violet.<ref name=GRIN/> It inhabits woodland edges, grassland and shady hedge banks. It is found in all soils except those which are acid or very wet.
Growing to Template:Convert tall and Template:Convert broad, this prostrate perennial has dark green, heart-shaped leaves and produces multiple violet coloured flowers in May and June.<ref name = RHSPF>Template:Cite web</ref>
Viola riviniana was voted the county flower of Lincolnshire in 2002, following a poll by the wild plant conservation charity Plantlife.<ref>Plantlife website County Flowers page Template:Webarchive</ref>
Distribution
Common in Ireland<ref>Webb, D.A., Parnell, J., and Doogue, D. 1996. An Irish Flora. University Press. Template:ISBN</ref> and all the British Isles.<ref>Clapham, A.R., Tutin, T.G. and Warburg, E.F. 1968. Excursion Flora of the British Isles. Cambridge University Press. Template:ISBN</ref>
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.<ref Name="HH&GGE2004">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</ref>
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
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)