''Suksdorfia violacea'' is an uncommon species of herbaceous flowering plant in the

saxifrage family Saxifragaceae is a family of herbaceous perennial flowering plants, within the core eudicot order Saxifragales. The taxonomy of the family has been greatly revised and the scope much reduced in the era of molecular phylogenetic analysis. The fa ...

known by the common name violet suksdorfia. In 1879 Asa Gray named the genus ''

Suksdorfia ''Suksdorfia'' is a genus in the family Saxifragaceae. It has only two accepted species, '' Suksdorfia alchemilloides'' and '' Suksdorfia violacea'', native to central South America and northwestern North America, respectively. Asa Gray named t ...

'' after

Wilhelm Nikolaus Suksdorf Wilhelm Nikolaus Suksdorf (September 15, 1850 – October 3, 1932) was a German–American botanist who specialized in the flora of the Pacific Northwest. He was largely self-taught and is considered one of the top three self-taught botanists ...

who had first collected a specimen of ''S. violacea'' in 1878 near Mount Adams-

White Salmon, Washington White Salmon is a city in Klickitat County, Washington, United States. It is located in the Columbia River Gorge. The population was 2,193 at the 2000 census and increased 1.4% to 2,224 at the 2010 census. History White Salmon was first settle ...

and sent it to Gray for assistance in classifying it. Gray and Suksdorf had a long and close working relationship, and Gray initially identified and named various species found by Suksdorf. Its conservation status has been rated by NatureServe as "G4 – Apparently Secure".

Taxonomy

''Suksdorfia violacea'' is the

type species In zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the species that contains the biological type specime ...

for this genus and Gray named it after Suksdorf. The genus name ''Hemieva'' Raf. was published earlier than ''Suksdorfia'', but was less well known, and ''Suksdorfia'' is now a conserved name. Therefore, ''Hemieva violacea'', although correct when it was published in 1896 is no longer the correct name for this species.

Ecology

''Suksdorfia violacea'' is found in Washington, British Columbia, Oregon, Alberta, Montana, and Idaho. It is most common in Washington and southeast British Columbia. It prefers moist areas with rocks, crevices, ledges, and fences. It is a perennial that grows from rhizomes. It has petiolate rounded leaves that are wide. The calyx is a slender bell shape. The flower is a five-lobed, violet-colored, slender, tapered, and with 5

stamens The stamen (plural ''stamina'' or ''stamens'') is the pollen-producing reproductive organ of a flower. Collectively the stamens form the androecium., p. 10 Morphology and terminology A stamen typically consists of a stalk called the filame ...

. The fruits are long and have brown seeds. The plants usually grow to a height of in small groups at lower elevations.

References

Bibliography

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External links

{{Taxonbar, from=Q17781624 Saxifragaceae Flora of the Northwestern United States Flora of British Columbia Flora without expected TNC conservation status