Violaceae (pansy and violet family)

Life > eukaryotes > Archaeoplastida > Chloroplastida > Charophyta > Streptophytina > Plantae (land plants) > Tracheophyta (vascular plants) > Euphyllophyta > Lignophyta (woody plants) > Spermatophyta (seed plants) > Angiospermae (flowering plants) >  Eudicotyledons >  Core Eudicots >  Rosids >  Eurosid I > Order: Malpighiales

There are 23 genera and 830 species worldwide (mainly tropical but the large Viola genus occurs predominantly in temperate regions), of which three genera and about 10 species occur in southern Africa.

Genera native in southern Africa

List from Bredenkamp (2000).

Hybanthus About 100 species (tropics and subtropics, mainly South and Central America), with two species indigenous to southern Africa and four species that have become naturalised.
Rinorea About 250 species (tropics and subtropics), with three species indigenous to southern Africa.
Viola (pansy and violet genus) About 300 species (cosmopolitan, mainly north temperate regions), with two species indigenous to southern Africa and two that have become naturalised. There are an additional five species that are cultivated in southern Africa (Glen 2000).

Other genera, cultivated in southern Africa

Publications

• Glen, H.F. 2002. Cultivated plants of southern Africa. Jacana, Johannesburg.

• Bredenkamp, C.L. 2000. Violaceae. In: Seed Plants of Southern Africa (ed. O.A. Leistner). Strelitzia 10: 559-560. National Botanical Institute, Pretoria.