Question

What are five key characteristics of the family Violaceae?

Answer 1

VIOLACEAE - The Violet Family - This is a family of flowering plants established in 1802, consisting of about 1000 species in about 25 genera.

• Habit: Mostly herbs – annual or perennial, some shrubs or under-shrubs rarely climbers (Anchietea).
• Root: Tap, root.
• Stem: Herbaceous or woody, erect, usually un-branched.
• Leaf: Simple, entire or variously toothed, with a marked tendency to be cordate in form, all basal in some species, but in others alternate or rarely opposite (Hybanthus), stipulate, stipules permanent and foliaceous (Viola spp.).
• Flowers:  The flowers arise singly on long stems from the leaf axils. They have five petals of unequal size, with the lower ones forming a spur at the back of the flower which contains nectar. There are honey guidelines directing insects into the spur to pollinate the flower. Wild violets and violas are often blue, white, purple (violet) and yellow, but larger hybrids have been bred in all colours.
• Seeds: The seed capsule has three parts fused to form one chamber. In some species, this is pointed and triangular, and in others it is rounded. Species may sometimes be identified by the shape and colour of the seed pod. The seeds are dispersed when the capsule splits into three, forming a three-pointed 'star'. Seeds are yellow or brown and rounded.
• Fruit: A loculicidal capsule.