Viola hissarica Juz.

Raab-Straube, Eckhard von & Raus, Thomas, 2024, Euro + Med-Checklist Notulae, 17, Willdenowia 54 (1), pp. 5-45 : 35-36

Viola hissarica Juz.

– Fig. 18.

A Uk: Ukraine: Dnipro city, 48.4525°N, 35.0626°E, campus of Oles Honchar Dnipro National University, Gagarina Avenue, plentiful on lawn, 24 Apr 2012, Baranovsky (DSU); ibid, Olesya Honchara Street, 48.4513°N, 35.0560°E, small colony near residential building; ibid., 48.4510°N, 35.0558°E, ornamental garden area, 9 Apr 2017, Karmyzova (DSU s.n.); ibid, Kniahyni Olhy Street, 48.4755°N, 35.0252°E, small colony near residential building, 25 Mar 2020; Odesa city, Prymorska Street, 46.4864°N, 30.7430°E, small colony from ornamental garden area, spontaneously spreading, 15 Oct 2021, Kamyzova (obs.); Odesa city, Hoholya Street, spontaneous near flower bed, along cracks in sidewalk, plentiful, 16 Sep 2022, Shynder (photo: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/149924369); ibid., 21 Apr 2023, Kalashnik (photo: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations /178880099); Odesa city, Panteleimonovska Street, around parking lot, cracks in road surface, scattered, several tens of plants, 21 Apr 2023, Kalashnik (photo: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/178879343); Zaporizhzhya city, Zaporizhzhya City Children Botanical Garden, plentifully along cracks of paths near administrative building and greenhouses, spontaneous, 1 Jul 2023, Shynder (photo: https://www.inaturalist.org /observations/180431803); Kyiv City, Arboretum of M. M. Gryshko National Botanical Garden, in shade (planted c. 10 years ago, origin of plants could not be established, now dense carpet of new-generation plants has developed), 16 Apr 2023 (KWHA 103184; photo: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/178718229); ibid., 21 Jun 2023 (photo: https://www.inaturalist.org /observations/170976692); Odesa city, Botanical Garden of I. I. Mechnykov Odesa National University, self-sown in flower bed, 16 Sep 2022, Shynder (photo: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/151494601).

– Viola hissarica is a narrow endemic of C Asia ( Shishkin & Bobrov 1949), known only from one locality (Hisar Valley in Tajikistan). It was considered endangered ( Takhtajan 1981), listed in the Red Book of the USSR ( Borodin 1984) and in the Red Book of Tajikistan ( Rahimi & al. 2017). Currently, the state of the population in its native habitat is unknown ( Rahimi & al. 2017). In Ukraine, this species was indicated in Soviet times in the O. V. Fomin Botanical Garden of National Taras Schevchenko University of Kyiv ( Lapin 1983), although it is currently not mentioned in the catalogues and publications of this institution ( Solomakha 2007). The species is not mentioned in modern catalogues of other botanical gardens in Ukraine, although it is represented in some of them. In 1999, V. hissarica was found by V. V. Tarasov on the territory of the Botanical Garden of the Dnipro National University (DNU) ( Tarasov 2005; Karmyzova & Baranovsky 2020). This species may have been spontaneously introduced together with other plants from C Asia. It was then found by B. Baranovsky near the Botanical Garden on the DNU campus in 2012, from where it began to spread actively into suitable urban habitats of Dnipro city. Now populations of up to 80 specimens per 1 m ² are common in the territory of Dnipro city. In 2021, the species was found by L. Karmyzova and in 2022 by O. Shynder in Odesa, and in 2023 by O. Shynder in the botanical gardens of Kyiv and Zaporizhzhya. Now V. hissarica is at the initial stage of expansion in the continental part of Ukraine and should still be considered as a casual alien species. Additional findings of V. hissarica cannot be excluded. It is primarily characterized by its lanceolate-triangular leaves (with a length: width ratio of 1: 2–3.5), winged petioles and whitish-violet bicolored flowers.

L. Karmyzova, B. Baranovsky & O. Shynder

Figures

Fig. 18. Viola hissarica – A: synanthropic habitat; B: flowering plant. – Ukraine, Dnipro city, 25 Mar 2020, photographs by L. Karmyzova.