Viola tricolor L.

<< Previous Next >>
Viola tricolor L.
Photo Information
Copyright: Ena Simic (Ena) Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 360 W: 60 N: 569] (2319)
Genre: Plants
Medium: Color
Date Taken: 2006-05-26
Categories: Flowers
Exposure: f/4, 1/320 seconds
More Photo Info: [view]
Photo Version: Original Version, Workshop
Date Submitted: 2007-10-08 11:19
Viewed: 541
Points: 12
[Note Guidelines] Photographer's Note
Heartsease (Viola tricolor) is a common European wild flower, growing as an annual or short-lived perennial. It has been introduced into North America, where it has spread widely, and is known as the Johnny Jump Up (though this name is also applied to similar species such as the Yellow Pansy). It is the progenitor of the cultivated Pansy, and is therefore sometimes called Wild Pansy; before the cultivated Pansies were developed, "Pansy" was an alternative name for the wild form.

Heartsease is a small plant of creeping habit, reaching at most 15cm in height, with flowers about 1.5 cm in diameter. It grows in short grassland on farms and wasteland, chiefly on acid or neutral soils. It is usually found in partial shade. It flowers from April to September. The flowers can be purple, blue, yellow or white. They are hermaphrodite and self-fertile, pollinated by bees.


As its name implies, Heartsease has a long history of use in herbalism. It has been recommended, among other uses, as a treatment for epilepsy, asthma, skin diseases and eczema. It has expectorant properties, and so has been used in the treatment of chest complaints such as bronchitis and whooping cough. It is also a diuretic, leading to its use in treating rheumatism and cystitis.

The flowers have also been used to make yellow, green and blue-green dyes, while the leaves can be used to make a chemical indicator.

Long before cultivated pansies were developed, Heartsease was associated with thought in the "language of flowers", often by its alternative name of pansy (from the French "pensée" - thought): hence Ophelia's often quoted line in Shakespeare's Hamlet, "There's pansies, that's for thoughts". What Shakespeare had in mind was Heartsease, not a modern garden pansy.

Shakespeare makes a more direct reference to Heartsease in A Midsummer Night's Dream. Oberon sends Puck to gather "a little western flower" that maidens call "Love-in-idleness". Oberon's account is that he diverted an arrow from Cupid's bow aimed at "a fair vestal, throned by the west" (supposedly Queen Elizabeth I) to fall upon the plant "before milk-white, now purple with love's wound". The "imperial vot'ress" passes on "fancy-free", destined never to fall in love. The juice of the heartsease now, claims Oberon, "on sleeping eyelids laid, Will make or man or woman madly dote Upon the next live creature that it sees." Equipped with such powers, Oberon and Puck control the fates of various characters in the play to provide Shakespeare's essential dramatic and comic structure for the play.

Scientific classification

Kingdom: Plantae

Division: Magnoliophyta

Class: Magnoliopsida

Order: Malpighiales

Family: Violaceae

Genus: Viola

Species: V. tricolor


Wikipedia
dejo, mamcg, isabaskose has marked this note useful
Only registered TrekNature members may rate photo notes.
Add Critique [Critiquing Guidelines] 
Only registered TrekNature members may write critiques.
Discussions
None
You must be logged in to start a discussion.

Critiques [Translate]

  • Great 
  • dejo Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 355 W: 54 N: 476] (2048)
  • [2007-10-08 11:36]

Super slicica :)

dobar kontrast u odnosu na pozadinu!

Hi Ena,
Welcome on TrekNature!
You posted a nice picture. Colours are vivid and rich. The Depth of field (DOF) is excellent and the focus on flower is nice too. I sibmit a Workshop (click on Workshop in blue below this window). I hope you will like it. I tried to increase the impact on your excellent subject.
Thanks for sharing,

Claude

  • Great 
  • Alma Silver Star Critiquer [C: 13 W: 0 N: 1] (8)
  • [2007-10-15 7:51]

Bei colori, molto vivaci!:-)

  •      
  • adi (0)
  • [2007-11-07 8:26]

zbog ove slike djecu sam morao poslati u drugu sobu

lipo, lipo, dobra je ona mušica na vrku, bravo

Ciao Ena

davvero bella la tua foto. Colori delicati, un'ottima messa a fuoco con contrasti decisi ma non invadenti.Buono lo sfuocato di cornice. U'ottima prova, molto brava....Ivan

Hello Ena,
Delicate details in this fine little flower!
Colours are very well reproduced and with good sharpness in the finer details...
Composition is simple without disturbing elements, could probably be improved by a tighter crop!
Greetings,
Pablo -

Hi Ena,
Very very nice picture. I love viola flowers. composition is great. Colors and details excellent.TFS.

All your photos are excellent and the flowers and notes make we want to come back and back again. TFS

Calibration Check
















0123456789ABCDEF