Viola acutifolia (Kar. & Kir.) W. Beck.

Herbs perennial. Rhizome obliquely ascending or erect, with numerous yellow-brown rootlets. Stems 1-3, 10-25 cm tall, usually flexible, glabrous or spreading puberulous. Basal leaves 1 or 2, rarely 5, usually withered after anthesis; leaf blade cordate or reniform, 3-5 × 3.5-5.5(-6) cm, both surfaces subglabrous or sparsely puberulous, base deeply cordate, apex obtuse or mucronate. Stipules adnate to petiole only at base, free part ovate-lanceolate, 4-6 mm, margin entire or remotely fimbriate-dentate, apex acute; cauline leaf only 1 in lower part of stem, long petiolate, without flowers in leaf axils; leaves at apex of stem subverticillate, shortly petiolate; leaf blade broadly ovate, 5-7 × 3-6 cm, both surfaces sparsely puberulous, base cordate, margin remotely serrate, apex acuminate. Flowers 1-3, usually 2 in leaf axils at apex of stem, yellowish, 1-2 cm in diam.; pedicels shorter than leaves, 2-bracteolate above middle; bracteoles linear. Sepals linear-lanceolate or linear, 6-8 mm, apex ± acute, basal auricles very short, 3-veined. Petals obovate, purple striate, anterior one shorter, 1.3-1.5 cm (spur included); spur saccate, very short, slightly curved upward. Capsule oblong, 6-12 mm, glabrous. Fl. May-Jun, fr. Jun-Jul.

Xinjiang [Russia].

Alpine or subalpine meadows, grasslands on mountain slopes, forest margins; 1000-2400 m.

Viola biflora Linnaeus var. acutifolia Karelin & Kirilov, Bull. Soc. Imp. Naturalistes Moscou 15: 163. 1842.