Garden Pansy - Viola x wittrockiana
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Species Description
Widespread and fairly frequent as a casual throughout the UK. Habitat includes: Near to habitation in places such as rough / cultivated land, wasteland, roadside verges, rubbish tips etc. I have also noted it growing on pavements beneath hanging baskets where it has clearly escaped from. Growing habit: Annual to short-lived Perennial. Height: Up to 23 cm. Flowers: April to October (May flower all year round in milder areas). It's not exactly known where cultivated Pansy derived from but it's presumed to have originated from a 2 or 3 way hybrid between Viola tricolor (Wild Pansy), V. arvensis (Field Pansy) and possibly also V. altaica (Altai Pansy / Altaian violet) (Stace). NBN and BSBI however has it written down as Viola lutea (Mountain Pansy) x V. tricolor (Wild Pansy) x V. altaica (Altai Pansy / Altaian violet). Cultivated in Britain since at least 1816, and first known from the wild by 1927. Other names include: Ladies' Delight, Stepmother's Flower, Heart's-ease.
Stace 4:
Viola x wittrockiana Gams ex Kappert - Garden Pansy.
Probably derived from V. tricolor x V. arvensis crosses, and perhaps V. altaica Ker Gawl. too; recognisable by flowers 3.5-10cm across with strongly overlapping petals; (2n=48-50). Neophyte-naturalised; much grown in gardens and parks and often escaping on rough or cultivated land or on tips; scattered throughout lowland British Isles, mainly in South England. Wild populations often segregate and / or backcross to V. tricolor or less often to V. arvensis.
Key:
- Corolla-spur <7mm
- Flowers usually >3.5cm vertically across, with strongly overlapping petals