Viola

From The Plant Encyclopedia

Pansy, Viola

Viola sororia 'Albiflora'
Loading slideshow...
Viola
Category	Shrub, Perennial, Annual, Vegetable, Indoor Plants
Kingdom	Plantae
Division	Magnoliophyta
Class	Angiospermae
Order	Malpighiales
Family	Violaceae
Species in this genus
Viola abyssinica Viola acanthophylla Viola accrescens Viola acuminata Viola acutifolia Viola aizoon Viola alaica Viola albida Viola allochroa Viola altaica Viola angustifolia Viola araucaniae Viola arcuata Viola arguta Viola arguta x dombeyana Viola atropurpurea Viola aurantiaca Viola aurata Viola auricula Viola bangii Viola barroetana Viola belophylla Viola bernardii Viola boliviana Viola brachyceras Viola brachypetala Viola bridgesii Viola buchtienii Viola bulbosa Viola bustillosia Viola calderensis Viola cameleo Viola canescens Viola cerasifolia Viola chaerophylloides Viola chamaedrys Viola changii Viola charlestonensis Viola cochranei Viola collina Viola columnaris Viola commersonii Viola confertifolia Viola conspersa Viola cornuta Viola corralensis Viola cotyledon Viola cuatrecasasii Viola cuicochensis Viola curicoensis Viola cuspidifolia Viola cyathiformis Viola dactyloides Viola davidii Viola decipiens Viola delavayi Viola diamantiaca Viola dimorphophylla Viola disjuncta Viola dissecta Viola dombeyana Viola domeykoana Viola duclouxii Viola ecuadorensis Viola emarginata Viola eminii Viola epipsiloides Viola escarapela Viola evae Viola fargesii Viola faurieana Viola fedtschenkoana Viola flagelliformis Viola flavicans Viola formosana Viola forrestiana Viola friderici Viola frigida Viola fuscifolia Viola galeanaensis Viola germainii Viola glaberrima Viola glacialis Viola glandularis Viola glechomoides Viola gmeliniana Viola godoyae Viola gracillima Viola grahamii Viola grandisepala Viola granulosa Viola grypoceras Viola guatemalensis Viola hamiltoniana Viola hancockii Viola hediniana Viola hemsleyana Viola henryi Viola hillii Viola hirtipes Viola hondoensis Viola hookeriana Viola howellii Viola huesoensis Viola huidobrii Viola humilis Viola hymettia Viola incisa Viola incognita Viola inconspicua Viola ircutiana Viola jalapaensis Viola japonica Viola joergensenii Viola johnstonii Viola jordanii Viola kermesina Viola kitaibeliana Viola kosanensis Viola kunawurensis Viola kusanoana Viola kwangtungensis Viola lactiflora Viola lanceolata Viola langsdorffii Viola lanifera Viola lavrenkoana Viola lehmannii Viola leyboldiana Viola llullaillacoensis Viola lucens Viola macloskeyi Viola macroceras Viola maculata Viola magellanica Viola magnifica Viola mandshurica Viola matutina Viola mauritii Viola membranacea Viola micranthella Viola milanae Viola minutiflora Viola mirabilis Viola mongolica Viola montana Viola moupinensis Viola mucronulifera Viola muehldorfii Viola muliensis Viola munbyana Viola nagasawae Viola nanlingensis Viola nannei Viola nassauvioides Viola nemoralis Viola nephrophylla Viola nobilis Viola nubigena Viola nuda Viola obtusa Viola occulta Viola orientalis Viola ovalleana Viola oxyodontis Viola painteri Viola pallascaensis Viola palmata Viola patrinii Viola pedata Viola pekinensis Viola pendulicarpa Viola perpusilla Viola phalacrocarpa Viola philippica Viola pilosa Viola polycephala Viola polypoda Viola portulacea Viola primulifolia Viola prionantha Viola pulvinata Viola pusilla Viola pusillima Viola pygmaea Viola raddeana Viola reichei Viola replicata Viola rhombifolia Viola roigii Viola rossii Viola rosulata Viola rotundifolia Viola rubella Viola rudolphii Viola rugosa Viola rupestris Viola saccata Viola sacchalinensis Viola santiagoensis Viola savatieri Viola scandens Viola scotophylla Viola seleriana Viola selkirkii Viola sempervivum Viola senzanensis Viola septentrionalis Viola serrula Viola sikkimensis Viola skottsbergiana Viola sphaerocarpa Viola steinbachii Viola stewardiana Viola stipularis Viola striatella Viola suavis Viola subsinuata Viola sumatrana Viola szetschwanensis Viola tenuicornis Viola tenuissima Viola thomsonii Viola thymifolia Viola tienschiensis Viola tigirekica Viola toroensis Viola triangulifolia Viola trichopetala Viola tridentata Viola trinervata Viola tuvinica Viola umbraticola Viola uniflora Viola urophylla Viola vallenarensis Viola vallicola Viola variegata Viola veronicifolia Viola viarum Viola violacea Viola volcanica Viola wallichiana Viola weberbaueri Viola websteri Viola weibelii Viola yezoensis Viola yunnanensis Viola yunnanfuensis
Add a species
Please enter the plant name in this format: 'Latin name - Common Name'

Aden Earth Zone

2 - 12

Cultivation

• Cultivation: Naturalizing, Easy-To-Grow
• Light: Sun, Dappled, Part-Shade, Shade
• Soil: Rich
• pH: 7
• Moisture: Wet, Medium

Characteristics

• Form: Shrub, Herbaceous
• Habit: Perennial, Annual
• Flower: Medium, Petals, Red, Pink, Purple, White, Black
• Fruit/Seed: Small
• Foliage: Leaves, Green, Purple
• Uses: Edible, Medicinal, Ornamental, Houseplant

About

Viola (most commonly pronounced /vaɪˈoʊlə/ in US English and /ˈviːələ/ in UK English<ref>The pronunciation /vaɪˈoʊlə/ (Template:Respell) is the most common one in US English, but US dictionaries also record (less common) use of /viˈoʊlə/ (Template:Respell) and /ˈvaɪ.ələ/ (Template:Respell): American Heritage Dictionary, Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. The only pronunciation recorded by the fckLRCompact Oxford English Dictionary is /ˈviː.ələ/ (Template:Respell). Compare with the US and UK pronunciations of the musical instrument of the violin family called viola, which is pronounced /viˈoʊlə/ (Template:Respell) in US English, but which is pronounced that way or /vaɪˈoʊlə/ (Template:Respell) in UK English.</ref>) is a genus of flowering plants in the violet family Violaceae, with around 400–500 species distributed around the world. Most species are found in the temperate Northern Hemisphere, however viola species (commonly called violets, pansies or heartsease) are also found in widely divergent areas such as Hawaii, Australasia, and the Andes in South America.

Most Viola species are tiny Perennial plants, some are annual plants, and a few are small shrubs. A number of species are grown for their ornamental flowers in borders and rock gardens; the garden pansy in particular is an extensively used spring and autumn/winter bedding and pot plant. Viola and violetta are terms used by gardeners and generally in horticulture for neat, small-flowered hybrid plants intermediate in size between pansies and violets.<ref name="americanvioletsociety.org">http://www.americanvioletsociety.org/Species_N_Cultivars/Pansy.htm (Accessed 14 Oct 2008)</ref><ref>http://www.rhs.org.uk/RHSPlantFinder/GenusClass.asp?Genus=Viola (Accessed 14 Oct 2008)</ref>

Description

Viola species typically have heart-shaped, scalloped leaves, though a number have palmate leaves or other shapes. The vast majority of Viola species are herbaceous, and a substantial number are acaulescent in habit - meaning they lack any noticeable stems and the foliage and flowers appear to rise from the ground; the remaining species have short stems with foliage and flowers produced in the axils of the leaves. The simple leaves of plants with either habit are arranged alternately; the acaulescent species produce basal rosettes. Plants always have leaves with stipules that are often leaf-like. The Flowers of the vast majority of the species are zygomorphic with bilateral symmetry. The flowers are formed from five petals; four are upswept or fan-shaped petals with two per side, and there is one broad, lobed lower petal pointing downward. The shape of the petals and placement defines many species, for example, some Viola species have a "spur" on the end of each petal while most have a spur on the lower petal.

Solitary flowers end long stalks with a pair of bracteoles. The flowers have 5 sepals that persistent after blooming, and in some species the sepals enlarge after blooming. The flowers have five free stamens with short filaments that are oppressed against the ovary, only the lower two stamens have nectary spurs that are inserted on the lowest petal into the spur or a pouch. The flower styles are thickened near the top and the stigmas are head-like, narrowed or often beaked. The flowers have a superior ovary with one cell, which has three placentae, containing many ovules.

After flowering, fruit capsules are produced that split open by way of three valves.<ref>Cullen, J. 2001. Handbook of North European garden plants with keys to families and genera. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Page 345.</ref> Viola flowers are most often spring blooming with chasmogamous flowers with well developed petals pollinated by insects. Many species also produce self-pollinated cleistogamous flowers in summer and autumn that do not open and lack petals.<ref>Walters, Dirk R., and David J. Keil. 1996. Vascular plant taxonomy. Dubuque, Iowa: Kendall/Hunt Pub. Co. Page 332.</ref> The nutlike seeds have straight embryos, flat cotyledons, and soft fleshy endosperm that is oily.<ref>Cronquist, Arthur. 1981. An integrated system of classification of flowering plants. New York: Columbia University Press. Page 404.</ref> The seeds are often spread by ants.

Flower colours vary in the genus, ranging from violet, as their common name suggests, through various shades of blue, yellow, white, and cream, whilst some types are bicolored, often blue and yellow. Many cultivars and hybrids have been bred in a greater spectrum of colours. Flowering is often profuse, and may last for much of the spring and summer.

One quirk of some viola is the elusive scent of their flowers; along with terpenes, a major component of the scent is a ketone compound called ionone, which temporarily desensitises the receptors of the nose, thus preventing any further scent being detected from the flower until the nerves recover.

Note: Neither Saintpaulia ("African violets") nor Erythronium dens-canis ("dogtooth violets") are related to the true Viola.

The genus includes dog violets, a group of scentless species which are the most common viola in many areas, sweet violet (Viola odorata) (named from its sweet scent), and many other species whose common name includes the word "violet". Several species are known as pansies, including the yellow pansy (Viola pedunculata) of the Pacific coast.

Common blue violet Viola sororia is the state flower of Wisconsin, Rhode Island, Illinois, and New Jersey.

Australia is home to a number of Viola species, including Viola hederacea, Viola betonicifolia and Viola banksii.

The modern garden pansy (V. × wittrockiana) is a plant of complex hybrid origin involving at least three species, V. tricolor (wild pansy or heartsease), V. altaica and V. lutea (mountain pansy).

Horticultural uses

Species and cultivars

Cultivars of Viola cornuta, Viola cucullata, Viola odorata, are commonly grown from seed. Other species often grown include Viola labradorica, Viola pedata and Viola rotundifolia.<ref name="Armitage1989">Template:Citation</ref>

Bedding plants

The plants known to gardeners as "violas" are common bedding and pot plants world wide. In 2005 in the United States, violas (including pansies) were one of the top three bedding plant crops and 111 million dollars worth of flats of violas were produced for the bedding flower market.<ref>http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/EP327</ref> Pansies and violas used for bedding are generally raised from seed, and F1 hybrid seed strains have been developed which produce compact plants of reasonably consistent flower colouring and appearance. Bedding plants are usually discarded after one growing season.

Perennial cultivars

There are hundreds of perennial viola and violetta cultivars; many of these do not "come true" from seed and therefore have to be propagated from cuttings. Violettas can be distinguished from violas by the lack of ray markings on their petals.<ref name="americanvioletsociety.org" /> A few popular examples include:<ref>RHS Plant Finder 2008-2009, Dorling Kindersley (2008) ISBN 978-1-4053-3190-6 pp787–791</ref>

• Viola 'Ardross Gem' (viola)
• Viola 'Buttercup' (violetta)
• Viola 'Columbine' (viola)
• Viola 'Dawn' (violetta)
• Viola 'Etain' (viola)
• Viola 'Irish Molly' (viola)
• Viola 'Jackanapes' (viola)
• Viola 'Maggie Mott' (viola)
• Viola 'Martin' (viola)
• Viola 'Molly Sanderson' (viola)
• Viola 'Rebecca' (violetta)
• Viola 'Vita' (viola)
• Viola 'Zoe' (violetta)
• viola 'Blackjack'

Weed control

Not all violets are desired, and wild violets function as a weed in North American lawns. Wild violets are a problem in shady fescue lawns in North America. Violets thrive in the part/full shade and are not susceptible to most herbicides used to kill common lawn weeds. Triclopyr, a weedkiller, has been found to be an effective method of controlling wild violets in fescue lawns.

Other uses

Culinary

When newly opened, Viola flowers may be used to decorate salads or in stuffing for poultry or fish. Soufflés, cream and similar desserts can be flavoured with essence of Viola flowers. The young leaves are edible raw or cooked as a somewhat bland leaf vegetable. The flowers and leaves of the cultivar 'Rebecca', one of the Violetta violets, has a distinct vanilla flavor with hints of wintergreen, however, that is quite delicious in salads.

The French are also known for their violet syrup, most commonly made from an extract of violets. In the United States, this French violet syrup is used to make violet scones and marshmallows.

Viola essence flavours the liqueurs Creme Yvette, Creme de Violette, and Parfait d'Amour. It is also used in Parma Violets confectionery.

Medicinal

The flowers, leaves and roots of various Viola species are used for medicinal purposes, being rich in vitamins A and C. They also contain a type of antioxidant called an anthocyanin. Viola flowers are also used to make an herbal tea that is used in Chinese herbal medicine.

Perfume

Viola odorata is used as a source for scents in the perfume industry. Violet is known to have a flirty scent as its fragrance comes and goes. Ionone is present in the flowers, which turns off the ability for humans to smell the fragrant compound for moments at a time<ref>Ackerman, Diane. A natural history of the senses. New York: Vintage Books, 1991. Print.</ref>.

References

Notes

External references

1. ITIS (Accessed December 2, 2002)
2. The Oxford Companion to Food, by Alan Davidson, Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-211579-0
3. Larousse Gastronomique, by Prosper Montagne (Ed.), Clarkson Potter, 2001. ISBN 0-609-60971-8

• This page was last modified on 10 August 2011, at 20:52.

• Privacy policy
• About The Plant Encyclopedia
• Disclaimers

•