PA Plantings

Viola conspersa (Dog Violet) and related "Stemmed" blue violas from Eastern North America Our friend Kim Blaxland who is especially interested in Viola species e-mailed me today to ask me about Viola conspersa plants that we have seen. It seems there is some question whether this is just an upright form of another species and should be lumped with Viola labradorica*/V. adunca v. minor. Viola conspersa is a relatively upright plant with light blue flowers and leaves scattered up the stem. While the other species have their stems prostrate on the ground. She asked especially about what kind of rocks and what the soil pH would be. I think I usually have seen V. conspersa on soil derived from diabase (an intrusive igneous rock which usually give rise to circumneutral soils) here in Berks County, PA The pictures of Viola conspersa here are mine. The first two are from PA State Gamelands #52 (north of Churchtown, Lancaster Co. and south of Maple Grove in Berks Co.) They ...

A hardback book I keep by my chair in the living room and use all of the time is: The Vascular Flora of Pennsylvania: Annotated Checklist and Atlas By Ann Fowler Rhoads, William MacKinley Klein Is available online thanks to GOOGLE Book Search . It is a large image that loads page by page as you scroll. You probably need a high speed internet connection to use this well. If you type " Vascular Flora Pennsylvania + a plant name" in the GOOGLE Book Search field it will take you to the page with that plant's range map on it. (note: you have to scroll down to page "vii" before you see much.) I think the book is easier to use but I use the online version occasionally when I am away from home.

This is just a beginning list of links I use fairly often. I will also be adding these to the link lists on the side of this page. eFloras.org includes (among others): Flora of North America on-line (in progress but the ferns, Penstemons and Trilliums are published) Flora of China Plant name links: Cultivated: RHS Plantfinder (The online search feature is halfway down the page in the gray box) Wild: IPNI (List all published names even if they are not currently accepted) BONAP 1998 (Biota of North America Project) list online (TAMU) Bonap 1999 only available on CD ($495 US) From NCSU ( order form ) note I haven't felt the need to buy this!) BONAP 2000-2007 nomenclature updates online Plant Name and Phytogeography links: USDA Plants (Names, State and County location maps, Links to pictures and descriptions_