Plants of South Eastern New South Wales

Viola hederacea

Flowers and leaves. Australian Plant Image Index, photographer Murray Fagg, Hunter Region Botanic Gardens north of Hexham

Flowering plant. Photographer Don Wood, Biamanga National Park north of Bega

Common name

Ivy-leaved violet

Family

Violaceae

Where found

Forest, woodland, and damp places. Widespread. Rare on the tablelands north of the Hume Highway, and the Western Slopes.

Notes

Perennial herb to 0.17 m high, prostrate, stoloniferous or rhizomatous, hairless to densely hairy. Leaves in clusters along the trailing stems or forming rosettes, 0.5–3.5 cm long, 5–50 mm wide, kidney-shaped to semi-circular, margins entire to scalloped to wavy and toothed, with long stalks mostly 2–6 cm long. Flowers white with mauve to purple or violet markings, with 5 petals each 7–10 mm long, the lower petal lacking a spur, the two lateral petals often hairy within. Flowers single. Flowering: spring-summer.

Hybrids between Viola hederacea and Viola sieberiana occur with the broader leaves of the former and the smaller, more or less evenly coloured, flowers of the latter.

All native plants on unleased land in the ACT are protected.

PlantNET description:  http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Viola~hederacea (accessed 8 February, 2021)