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Viola arvensis
Height: 10–40 cm (4–15 in.). Stem erect, branched, glabrous. Flower: Corolla zygomorphic, creamy white–yellowish white (sometimes light purple), 1–1.5 cm (0.4-0.6 in.) wide; petals 5, max. length equal to sepals, lowest spurred. Sepals 5. Stamens 5. A single carpel. Leaves: Alternate, short-stalked, stipulate. Blade ovate–lanceolate, with rounded teeth (crenate). Stipules leafy, deeply lobed, tip lobe large, elliptic–narrowly obovate, with rounded teeth (crenate)–serrated. Fruit: 3-valved capsule.
Fields, close to human habitation, soil heaps, wastelands, meadows, rocky outcrops.
Viola arvensis was shown to contain cyclotides, a class of peptides found in plants. The peptide cycloviolacin O2 in particular has shown to possess cytotoxic activity against human cancer cells and is therefore looked at as a potential drug lead.
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