The Violet

Teacher’s Story

It is interesting to note the flowers which have impinged upon the imagination of the poets; the violet more than most flowers has been loved by them, and they have sung in varied strains of its fragrance and lowliness.

Browning says:

“Such a starved bank of moss,
’Till that May morn,
Blue ran the flash across;
Violets were born.”

And Wordsworth sings:

“A violet by a mossy stone,
Half hidden from the eye;
Fair as a star, when only one
Is shining in the sky.”

And Barry Cornwall declares that the violet

“Stands first with most, but always with the lover.”

But Shakespeare’s tribute is the most glowing of all, since the charms of both the goddesses of beauty and of love are made to pay tribute to it:

“Violets dim, but sweeter than the lids of Juno’s eyes, or Cytherea’s breath.”

However, the violets go on living their own lives, in their own way, quite unmindful of the poets. There are many different species, and they frequent quite different locations. Some live in the woods, others in meadows and others in damp, marshy ground. They are divided into two distinct groups—those where the leaf-stems come directly from the root, and those where the leaves come from a common stem, the latter being called the leafy-stemmed violets. Much attention should be given to sketching and studying the leaf accurately of the specimens under observation, for the differences in the shapes of the leaves, in many instances, determine the species; in some cases the size and shape of the stipules determines the species; and whether the leaves and stems are downy or smooth is another important characteristic. In the case of those species where the leaves spring from the root, the flower stems rise from the same situation; but in the leafy-stemmed violets the flower stems come off at the axils of the leaves. In some species the flower stems are long enough to lift the flowers far above the foliage, while in others they are so short that the flowers are hidden.

The violet has five sepals and their shape and length is a distinguishing mark. There are five petals, one pair above, a pair one at each side, and a broad lower petal which gives the bees and butterflies a resting place when they are seeking nectar. This lower petal is prolonged backward into a spur which holds the nectar.

The spur forms the nectary of the violet, and in order to reach the sweet treasure, which is at the rearmost point of the nectary, the insect must thrust its tongue through a little door guarded by both anthers and pistil; the insect thus becomes laden with pollen, and carries it from flower to flower. In many of the species, the side petals have at their bases a little fringe which forms an arch over the door or throat leading to the nectary. While this is considered a guard to keep out undesirable insects like ants, I am convinced that it is also useful in brushing the pollen from the tongues of the insect visitors.

Some species of violets are very fragrant, while others have little odor. The color of the anthers also differs with different species. The children should be interested in watching the development of the seeds from the flower. The seed-pods are three-lobed, each one of these lobes dividing lengthwise, with a double row of seeds within. Each lobe curls back and thus scatters the seed.

At the base of most of the species of violets can be found the small flowers which never open; they have no petals, but within them the pollen and the pistil are fully developed. The flowers seem to be developed purposely for self-pollenation, and in the botanies they are called cleistogamous flowers; in some species they are on upright stems, in others they lie flat. There is much difference in the shape of the rootstock in the different species of violet; some are delicate and others are strong, and some are creeping.