Violas, Viola spp., are a diverse genus of annual and perennial herbs, and occasionally shrubs, found throughout the world's temperate regions, including remote areas such as the uplands of Hawaii. They are widely grown as ornamental garden plants under the names Pansy, Viola or Violet. There are over a hundred described species of Viola from South America, with over thirty more known to botanists but not yet formally described.
In a paper published in the journal Willdenowia on 25 March 2019, John Watson and Ana Flores of Los Andes in Chile, and Silvia Arroyo-Leuenberger of the Botanischer Garten und Botanisches Museum Berlin at the Freie Universität Berlin, describe a new species of Viola from Andes Mountains of Departmento Belén in Provincia Catamarca, Argentina.
The new species is named Viola beati, in honour of the late Beat Leuenberger of the Botanischer Garten und Botanisches Museum Berlin and former husband of Silvia Arroyo-Leuenberger, who discovered the specimens from which the species is described in 1994. The is a woody perennial herb forming spreading cushions about 2 cm high, with white or pale violet flowers.
Locality and environment of Viola beati general situation on pass to north-northeast of Villavil, Catamarca, Argentina at 3400 m, vegetation with sandy clearings as habitat. 20 February 1994. Urs Eggli in Watson et al. (2019).
The species is known only from a single location, with a small population, so while it does not appear to be under any immediate threat, Watson et al. consider that it should be treated as potentially endangered.
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