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Tag Archives: Sweet violet

The Violet challenge

21 Sunday Mar 2021

Posted by sconzani in flowers, spring, wildflowers

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Tags

British wildflowers, Common dog-violet, dog violets, Early dog-violet, Spring colour, Sweet violet, Viola odorata, Viola odorata var. dumetorum, Viola reichenbachiana, Viola riviniana, violets, white Sweet violet

The wildflower hour challenge this week was to ‘find a violet in bloom and work out which one it is’. Now, you might think that’s an easy task but, once you learn – as I did – that there are five subspecies of Sweet violet alone, you could easily decide – as I almost did – that this was a challenge too far. But I persevered, and found three different species (and two subspecies of one).

210321 Viola odorata var odorata (1)

Let’s start with Sweet violet, and the two subspecies I Iocated, the standard purple violet with the glorious scent, Viola odorata var. odorata, and one of the two white subspecies, Viola odorata var. dumetorum. As well as its glorious smell, the Sweet violet can most easily be identified by the rounded sepals that lay flat against the flower (if the sepals were angled back towards the stem, you’d have a Hairy violet – I didn’t find any of those this week). And I’ve not yet seen the second variation of the white violet, Viola odorata var. imberbis (which doesn’t have a ‘beard’, the hairs inside the flower).

210321 Viola odorata var odorata (2)
210321 Viola odorata var dumetorum (2)

210321 Viola odorata var dumetorum (1)

I managed to find both the dog-violets (the word ‘dog’ in this case indicating there is no scent; nothing to do with the domestic pet!). These are Common dog-violet (Viola riviniana) (photos on the left below) and Early dog-violet (Viola reichenbachiana) (photos on the right). These two can be difficult to tell apart sometimes but, though both dog-violets have pointy sepals, the Common dog’s sepals are usually bigger, with tops (the sepal appendages) that are more square, and often notched or scalloped. Also, the spurs at the back of the flowers are mostly stouter and notched at the end on the Common dog, and the veins inside its flowers are longer and multi-branching.

210321 Viola riviniana common dog (1)
210321 Viola reichenbachiana early dog (1)
210321 Viola riviniana common dog (2)
210321 Viola reichenbachiana early dog (2)

You can find Wildflower hour on Twitter by clicking this link, and their website is here. They’re probably on Facebook too but I no longer use FB. If you’re on Twitter, there are many excellent botanists’ accounts to follow but one I definitely recommend is Moira O’Donnell (@nervousbotanist), who often shares easy-to-follow species crib sheets, one of which I have drawn on for this post.

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63/366 Small and white

03 Tuesday Mar 2020

Posted by sconzani in flowers, nature

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Tags

British wildflowers, Sweet violet, violets, white violet

Roses are red, violets are white
If you’re confused, that’s alright.

200303 white sweet violets (1)

Though most violets are usually, well, violet coloured, some can be much lighter shades of lilac and Sweet violets (Viola odorata) also have a white variety. I was surprised and delighted to find good numbers of these gorgeous white beauties growing alongside a local pathway yesterday. In fact, as it’s a route I walk often, I was particularly surprised that I haven’t noticed their presence in previous years.

200303 white sweet violets (2)

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13/366 Sweet violets

13 Monday Jan 2020

Posted by sconzani in nature, wildflowers, winter

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

British wildflowers, Cosmeston Lakes Country Park, Sweet violet, Viola odorata

As the gusty winds of Storm Brendan began to blow the trees around and I slipped and slid along Cosmeston’s muddy paths, I came upon this host of spring flowers.

200113 sweet violets (1)

Not the traditional host (of Daffodils) these, but rather Sweet violets (Viola odorata), considered native in some parts of Britain, invasive garden escapees in others. I’m not sure which these are but they were lovely to see.

200113 sweet violets (2)
200113 sweet violets (3)

I didn’t detect any smell but that could perhaps just have been the wind and rain or my inadequate nose, as I’m fairly sure they are Sweet violets – blunt sepals, hairy stems and leaves, the right leaf shape and growth pattern, flowering very early. A delight on a grey day.

200113 sweet violets (4)

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63/365 Sweet violets

04 Monday Mar 2019

Posted by sconzani in 365DaysWildin2019, flowers, nature, wildflowers

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

British wildflowers, Sweet violet, Viola odorata, violet, white wildflowers, wildflowers

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When I see violets, I always think of my nana Johno, my mother’s mother. She always had violets growing in her garden and would often pick a few to bring inside so she could enjoy their sweet scent. I spotted these particular violets on my way to Cosmeston this morning, growing wild on a grassy bank. I wasn’t able to smell them but I’m fairly sure these are Sweet violets (Viola odorata), which, as well as the traditional purple colour, can also be found in this pretty white variation.

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Variable and promiscuous

06 Friday Apr 2018

Posted by sconzani in flowers, nature, spring, wildflowers

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Tags

British flora, British wildflowers, purple violets, Sweet violet, Viola odorata, violets, white violets

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In Flora Botannica Richard Mabey’s opening statement on the violet family reads: ‘The violets are a variable and promiscuous family, apt to throw up all kinds of sports and hybrids.’ This once meant that botanists split the family into as many as 40 different species, depending on their colour variations. Fortunately, common sense and modern scientific analysis has now prevailed and that number has been almost halved. Still, violets are not always easy to identify.

180406 sweet violets (1)
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Although the violets in my photos are both purple and white, they are, I believe, all Sweet violets (Viola odorata), as they all had the distinctive scent of this variety – Common dog violets (Viola riviniana) are so called because they do not smell. In olden times, Sweet violets were one of the herbs that were strewn on floors to improve the smell of your home, and they have also been used by herbalists to treat insomnia, depression and headache. All that, and pretty too!

180406 sweet violets (7)

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Bute Park wildflowers

17 Sunday Apr 2016

Posted by sconzani in nature, spring, wildflowers

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Bluebell, Bute Park, Common dog-violet, Daisy, dandelion, Germander speedwell, Golden saxifrage, gorse, Greater stitchwort, Green alkanet, Herb Robert, Lesser Celandine, primrose, Red campion, Sweet violet, White deadnettle, Wild garlic, Wild strawberry, Wood anemone

This weekend I could have paid £12 to see what I’m sure would have been gorgeous flowers and inspirational displays at the Royal Horticultural Society’s Flower Show being held here in Cardiff’s Bute Park but, as I don’t have that kind of cash to splash at the moment, I decided to see what flowers I could find in Bute Park for nothing. With 18 different types of wildflowers currently in bloom I certainly wasn’t disappointed. Enjoy!

160417 bluebell
160417 daisy bellis perennis
160417 dandelion
160417 dead nettle white
160417 geranium robertianum herb robert
160417 germander speedwell
160417 gorse
160417 greater stitchwort Stellaria holostea
160417 Green Alkanet Pentaglottis sempervirens
160417 lesser celandine
160417 opposite leaved golden saxifrage
160417 primrose primula vulgaris
160417 red campion
160417 violet blue
160417 violet white
160417 wild garlic
160417 wild strawberry
160417 wood anemone

There were: Bluebell (mostly Spanish but I found a few natives) (Hyacinthoides non-scripta); Daisy (Bellis perennis); Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale); White deadnettle (Lamium album); Herb Robert (Geranium robertianum); Germander speedwell (Veronica Chamaedrys); Gorse (Ulex europaeus); Greater stitchwort (Stellaria holostea); Green alkanet (Pentaglottis sempervirens); Lesser celandine (Ranunculus ficaria); Opposite-leaved golden saxifrage (Chrysosplenium oppositifolium); Primrose (Primula vulgaris); Red campion (Silene dioica); Common dog-violet (Viola riviniana) and Sweet violet (Viola odorata); Wild garlic (Allium ursinum); Wild strawberry (Fragaria vesca); and Wood anemone (Anemone nemorosa).

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About me

sconzani

sconzani

I'm a writer and photographer; researcher and blogger; birder and nature lover; countryside rambler and city strider; volunteer and biodiversity recorder.

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