Pansies

[Paul mabbott]

There's a thread about lead-tolerant plants:
Lead tolerant plant id

Yesterday I was in Long Dale, Derbys looking through spoil-heaps and the like where I found plenty of all-yellow Viola lutea, mountain pansy.
Above the mines were multicoloured pansies

Could these be variants of V. lutea or another species?
One source states that V. lutea is a metallophile species but surely not?

[Tiggrx]

Viola lutea can have blue in it's flowers. The only possible confusion it with Heartsease (Viola tricolor) which can grow in similar areas. V. lutea is usually slightly larger.

The main difference is in stipule shape. They also hybridise...

[Paul mabbott]

Originally Posted by Tiggrx

Viola lutea can have blue in it's flowers. The only possible confusion it with Heartsease (Viola tricolor) which can grow in similar areas. V. lutea is usually slightly larger.

The main difference is in stipule shape. They also hybridise...

Not easy to get decent picture in strong wind. Hope to try again in a week or so. The multicoloured ones were somewhat smaller than the clearcut ones down the dale.
Thanks.

[RobSutton]

I think they probably are Viola lutea - in the Dales (Yorkshire version that is) most of the Mountain Pansies are yellow but there are odd clumps of ones identical to yours. I have a vague recollection of something about the yellow/blue ones being rather commoner in the south of their range with yellow ones more common to the north but I can't recall where I got that from.

[RobSutton]

Originally Posted by Paul mabbott

One source states that V. lutea is a metallophile species but surely not?

I think it is quite well known that Viola lutea is often associated with metalliferous sites - I think it's mentioned, for example, in the New Atlas of the British and Irish Flora