- Viola pedunculata
Taxobox
name = Yellow Pansy
image_width = 250px
regnum =Plant ae
divisio = Magnoliophyta
classis = Magnoliopsida
ordo =Violales
familia =Violaceae
genus = "Viola"
species = "V. pedunculata"
binomial = "Viola pedunculata"
binomial_authority = Torr. & A. GrayThe Yellow Pansy ("Viola pedunculata") is a common and attractive wildflower of coastal regions of
California andBaja California . It is also known as the California Golden Violet, or as the Johnny Jump Up, though the latter name is more usually associated with the introducedHeartsease , "Viola tricolor".The Yellow Pansy grows on open, grassy slopes,
chaparral , and in oak woodlands, from sea level to around 1000 metres. It is a perennial, growing from a spongyrhizome . The leaves are 1-5.5 cm, cordate (heart-shaped) to deltate-ovate (oblong-triangular), scalloped or toothed, andglabrous or hairy. [http://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/cgi-bin/get_JM_treatment.pl?Viola+pedunculata Species treatment from the Jepson Manual] The plant is often low-growing, but can reach heights of up to 40cm. The flowers appear in March and April, and are always yellow. They arehermaphrodite and are pollinated byinsect s. Dried in air, the seeds weigh about 4mg each.The leaves were used by the
Diegueno andLuiseno people for food: the young leaves were picked before the flowers appear in the spring, boiled, and used as greens. The flower buds can also be eaten, though like other yellow flowers of the genus "Viola", in large quantities they can causediarrhoea . Atisane can be made from the leaves.The plant is sometimes grown in gardens outside its natural range, for example in Britain, where it flowers in May. However it is not very hardy, and is best propagated in a
cold frame .Gallery
External links
* [http://elib.cs.berkeley.edu/cgi/img_query?where-genre=Plant&rel-namesoup=like&where-namesoup=Yellow+Pansy Photographs from the CalPhotos archive]
* [http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/tax_search.pl?viola+pedunculata Species treatment from the USDA Agricultural Research Service's GRIN database]
* [http://www.ibiblio.org/pfaf/cgi-bin/arr_html?Viola+pedunculata Species entry in Plants for a Future]
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