紫堇亚属 zi jin ya shu

Herbs, annual, biennial, or perennial, mostly mesophytic. Bracts herbaceous, often large. Stigma flat with distinct marginal papillae and usually with geminate papillae in basal corners and laterally (submarginally). Capsules soft, often explosively dehiscent.

More than 400 species: almost throughout the range of the genus, but rare in dry lowlands, absent from E North America; 319 species (239 endemic) in China.