Viola gmeliniana Roem. & Schult.

Herbs perennial, dwarf, acaulescent, 4-10 cm tall. Rhizome erect, brown, thick, surrounded by remains of leaves of previous year in upper part. Roots usually blackish, smooth, rarely branched. Leaves numerous, basal, rosulate; stipules greenish or glaucous, 1/2-3/4 adnate to petioles, the free part lanceolate, apex acute, margin remotely denticulate or subentire; petiole inconspicuous or nearly absent on young leaves, to 4 cm at fruiting, narrowly winged in upper part, stiffly hairy or subglabrous; leaf blade spatulate, long elliptic or lanceolate, 2-5 × 0.5-1.2 cm, subleathery, both surfaces ciliate or glabrous or densely stiffly hairy, or stiffly hairy only along veins adaxially, base narrow and decurrent to petiole, margin obtusely crenate or subentire and slightly repand, apex obtuse or ± acute. Flowers purple-violet, small; pedicels often purplish, usually exceeding or subequaling leaves, glabrous, rarely sparsely puberulous, 2-bracteolate at middle; bracteoles linear, 4-6 mm. Sepals ovate-lanceolate or lanceolate, 5-6 mm, margin narrowly membranous, apex acute, basal auricles subsquare, 1.5-2 mm, apex rounded or truncate, sometimes remotely dentate. Petals oblong-obovate, upper ones ca. 9 × 5 mm, lateral ones ca. 9 × 4.5 mm, distinctly bearded, anterior one 1-1.3 cm (spur included); spur 2-3.5 mm, ca. 1.5 mm in diam., apex rounded, slightly curved upward. Anthers ca. 2 mm, appendage of connectives ca. 1.5 mm; spur of 2 anterior stamens short, ca. 3 mm, stout, apex attenuate. Ovary ovoid-globose, ca. 1.8 mm, with granular appendages along abaxial ridge; styles ca. 2 mm, clavate, base conspicuously geniculate forward, gradually thickened upward; stigmas slightly thickened and margined on lateral sides and abaxially, slightly raised at top, conspicuously beaked in front, with a larger stigma hole at tip of beak. Capsule yellow-brown, narrowly ellipsoid, ca. 9 mm, glabrous. Fl. May-Jun, fr. Jun-Aug. 2n = 24.

Heilongjiang, Nei Mongol [Mongolia, Russia].

Thickets on mountain slopes, river shores, sandy places, grassy places on sand dunes; 300-1500 m.

Viola fusiformis Smith; V. gmeliniana var. albiflora W. Becker; V. gmeliniana var. glabra Ledebour; V. gmeliniana var. hispida Ledebour.