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Viola banksii
Also called Banks Violet, Banks' Violet, Native Violet
Viola banksii, the Australian native violet, is a low-growing groundcover native to eastern Australia from near Brisbane to Batemans Bay. The key to growing it is consistent moisture and at least half shade.
Viola banksii, commonly known as native violet, is sold and grown throughout garden nurseries and grown and loved in gardens around Australia, especially in the east. For many years it was known as Viola hederacea, however, the species complex was revised in 2004 by Kevin Thiele, with the name Viola banksii being published in 2003 by Kevin Thiele and Suzanne Prober. Although the Native Violet was initially collected by Banks and Solander, the type specimen was either lost or not provided until a collection by Jacques Labillardière in Tasmania. Thiele discovered that the original type specimen of V. hederacea collected by Labillardière was not the same as the hardier and showier plant later collected, cultivated and widely sold. This second form, native to the east coast from near Brisbane to Batemans Bay, he named Viola banksii.
Viola banksii is a very easy plant to grow, and adaptable to different soil types as long as it gets sufficient moisture and at least half shade or more in a garden situation. It can be quite vigorous in heavier, moisture-retentive soils and spreads forming a natural low groundcover.
Cultivated widely, Viola banksii is at some risk of becoming naturalised in some areas. One such population has been recorded at Mount Donna Buang near Melbourne.
Hookedspur violet · Field Pansy · Viola betonicifolia · Canadian white violet · Horned Pansy · Viola cotyledon · Marsh blue violet · Stately Violet · Dwarf marsh violet · Pioneer violet · Alpine violet · Manchuria Violet
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Viola banksii by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
