An Ode To Wild Violets

In one of my slides, I show a vignette of my favorite native violets including, birds foot violet (Violo pedate), common blue violet (Viola sororia) and downy yellow violet (Violoa pubescens).  I share with the class that native violets are the essential larval host food for the caterpillars of all 30 species of native fritillary butterflies in North America.  This discussion segues to the realization that all butterfly and moth caterpillars require specific plants to complete the life cycle from egg to caterpillar and to an adult butterfly. 

Downy Yellow Violet

I frequently teach the “Improving Wildlife Habitat “course for the WV Master Naturalist Program.  A good portion of my workshop is focused on the importance of native trees, shrubs and herbaceous plants in the natural environment and in our yards and gardens.  If we want to enjoy and protect butterflies, birds and bees, then we need to GROW NATIVE.  We discuss a host of native plant species suitable for wildlife throughout the year.  A diversity of plants provides the nectar and pollen for butterflies, bees and larval host plants for butterflies and moths. Other plants provide seeds, fruits and caterpillars for birds, mammals and so on.  

Despite this knowledge, I have never once planted a violet in my pollinator beds.  That may be in part due to the fact I have not seen violets on most native plant nursery lists available for sale, or on recommended plant lists for pollinators.  

Of course, there are many reasons most of us do not plant wild violets.  Primarily, our native wild violets are not big and showy and the blossoms of most are short-lived.  Our varied woodland violets pop up in spring amidst the leaf litter and may be overlooked unless you are actually looking for flowers.  

Viola sororia

However, our hardy common blue violet (Viola sororia) occurs everywhere!  You may overlook them, but they are there, in fields, edges of woods, along highways, city lots, in sidewalk cracks and in our lawns.  Common blue violets tolerate a wide variety of soils, light, and nutrient conditions.  But our neighbors who desire grass-only lawns, do see them and do everything you can imagine to make them vanish.  Despite the billion-dollar industry of chemical and physical assaults developed to remove them from lawns, these hardy little plants will be found nearby, ready and willing to move in.

My back yard is specked with violets every spring.  A yard that is maintained only by mowing for the past 14 years of my ownership.  Not a grain of fertilizer or sprinkle of pesticide or herbicide is applied.  Each year when I stop, squat down, nose to the ground, I re-discover how stunningly beautiful our little common blue violet really is.  They range in color shades from dep purple to blue and a form that is almost white.  In my yard the plants grow only 3 inches to 4 inches tall.  

A single flower grows on a separate stem from the leaves.  Some violet species produce flowers on stalks with leaves.  But all wild violet species have five petals in an open arrangement, two above, two laterally and one below.  The two petals to the sides and one below act as beacons to attract bees. The bottom petal serves as a landing pad for bees, flies and small butterflies.  The lower petal has veins of a deeper violet color which serve as nectar guides, like the lights on an airplane runway.  Bees see in the range of ultraviolet radiation as well as blue and green.  

As a bee zones in on the color and floral markers to reach the reward of sweet, rich nectar it settles on the landing pad, and grips the tufts of hairs on each of the side petals.  Once positioned, it maneuvers about to secure its food while hidden anthers above shower the back of the animal with pollen.  Once sated, off, they go to the next flower where pollen gets shaken off their bodies to fertilize the flower.

Different species of violets attract different kinds of pollinators. The common blue primarily attracts smaller halictid bees, honeybees and skippers.  Syrphid flies have been documented as feeding on the pollen.  A multitude of bee species will get nectar from other species of violets including bumble bees. 

Although violets invest a lot of strategy in attracting pollinators, they evolved another very effective strategy for reproduction.  Violets produce cleistogamous flowers.  These flowers never open and are produced at the base of the plant or just beneath the soil in summer and early fall.  They essentially self-fertilize producing numerous viable seeds.  This term is derived from two Greek words, cleistos meaning closed, and gamos meaning marriage. Consequently, violets have evolved two methods of seed production.

And wild violets have one more strategy to enhance seed dispersal.  The hard-shelled seeds produce a tiny little ball of fat and protein called an elaiosome attached to each seed.  Several spring ephemerals which grow close to the ground produce them.  These yummy parcels attract foraging ants.  When discovered, little armies of ant’s carry the seeds to their nests where they devour the nutrient rich elaiosome and toss aside the seeds.  Many of these seeds germinate in the little underground tunnels to begin a new population of violets.

So, let those native violets grow in the forests, fields and in our yards and perhaps in lovely violet border gardens.  We may not be able to fully measure the importance of the food they provide to early arriving bees, butterflies and flies.  However, their abundance across the landscape probably provides an important source of food for pollinators, especially from late winter through late spring.

If you are interested in planting a violet garden, I discovered several nurseries and organizations which propagate and sell violet seeds and plants.  Check out Prairie Moon Nursery in Minnesota, the Virginia Native Plant Society, and the New England Wildflower Society just to name a few, to help you get started.

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