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Please help with violet IDs

17 years ago

Hi, I have a few different kinds of violets growing, one of which is common violet, but there are two other kinds that I can't find in my wildflower books. I'm hoping someone here can help me. I would like to know what specific kind they are because I'm leaving an area for them in the hopes that the Fritillary butterflies in my area will use them as host plants.

The area of my backyard where they are tends to support heath-type plants.

The first violet (at least I think it's a violet); I wish I would have taken pics in the spring, and now I can't remember the color of the flowers--maybe yellow, maybe pink...

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The second type of violet:

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Thank you so much!

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Comments (8)

Iris GW
17 years ago
I don't think it is a violet at all.
Chemocurl zn5b/6a Indiana
17 years ago
I too don't think they are violets. You might try posting at the link below.

Sue

Here is a link that might be useful: Name That Plant Forum!
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The second photo looks like an Optimara Rhapsody Gisela. If you purchased it at Walmart, it is most likely an Optimara. You can go to the Selective Gardner website and look at the different violets and compare them to what you got but it is almost impossible to identify some violets just from the photos. I am not sure what variety your first photo is.
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Alwong, sometimes the bloom stalk needs to be manipulated to stand upright between leaves, instead of under. Go slow and be gentle. Also, a picture is worth 1000 words, maybe more. Is your plant growing in a nice flat rosette? If so, don't mess! You only need to pull off the ocassional outer row of leaves as they get old and grungy looking. If it's not in a flat rosette, if it's all over the place, chances are you have suckers and need to deal with those. As always, check out Rachel's site for illustrated instructions on what to do. Haxuan, HAHAHAHA! Welcome to the club. Wait until you start getting interested in the *other* Gesneriads; do you have Chirita tamiana? It's from northern Vietnam, and as easy to grow as an AV. All your spare money will go bye-bye along with your spare time. Still, it's a better hobby than gambling or football. Korina (the first step is to admit you have an addiction) Here is a link that might be useful: Rachel's Reflections
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Viola sororia 'Freckles' does vary in its freckliness and hence overall blue/white bias. There's a 'Speckles' too. Your plant is in this spectrum. Unless you know a parentage (preferably vegetative) back to one or other, you can't categorically say it is either. Personally, I'd call it 'Freckles', but with awareness of being a little slack in my use of terminology. (The leaves look OK to me, BTW.) In passing, V. sororia cultivars are getting going rather nicely now in my (cold) greenhouse in the south of the UK. Confederate violet (f. priceana) is ahead of 'Freckles', and the red form is on longer flower stems than others, I know not why. No sign of 'Alice Witter' blooms yet; hmmm.
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bernergrrl
Original Author
17 years ago
Thanks for the help--I'll try the Name That Plant Forum for confirmation, but I went through this Vascular Plant Image Library yesterday under the Viola section and found these two that seem to match. I was almost certain that they were violets because of the flowers. The leaves on both types are odd for violets.

The first one, as far as can tell, is Lance-leaved Violet (Viola lanceolata)and the second one is Arrow-leaved Violet (Viola sagittata).

Here is a link that might be useful: Lance-leaved Violet
Iris GW
17 years ago
Well, you certainly have done your homework on this - and you were the one to see the flowers. I certainly will not judge violets so quickly again! ;)
bernergrrl
Original Author
17 years ago
Who knew there were so many kinds of violets???? Before getting into this, I would never have expected them to take on such diverse forms! You'd practically need a Ph.D in violets to have answered my original question.

I do appreciate you taking the time!
User
17 years ago
Check out the violet group for some interesting pictures of violets and violas. I was amazed when I started looking at how many there were.
ladyslppr
17 years ago
I think these certainly could be violets. There are many types of violets, and not all have the heart-shaped leaves of common violet. It is hard to even guess what species you have, but the second and third pics resemble Viola hirsutus which around here is the common violet of low, acid, heath type area and barren soils.
botanybob
17 years ago
You can tell the second one is a violet by the fruit, but I am not so sure about the first one.

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