Viola riviniana
| Viola riviniana | |
| Light: |   |
| Moisture: |  |
| Hardiness: | 5 |
| Soil pH: | 5.6-7.3 |
| Self Pollinated | |
| Height: | 1' |
| Blooms: | Mid Spring-Early Summer |
| Open Woods Forest | |
| Native to: | |
| Shelter | |
| Edible Rating: |  |
| Tea: | Yes |
 | |
Viola riviniana (common name: wood violet)
Propagation: Seed - best sown in the autumn in a cold frame. Sow stored seed in early spring in a cold frame. Prick out the seedlings into individual pots when they are large enough to handle and plant them out in the summer.
Division in the autumn or just after flowering. Larger divisions can be planted out direct into their permanent positions, though we have found that it is best to pot up smaller divisions and grow them on in light shade in a greenhouse or cold frame until they are growing away well. Plant them out in the summer or the following spring.
Cultivation: Prefers a cool moist well-drained humus-rich soil in partial or dappled shade and protection from scorching winds. Tolerates sandstone and limestone soils but becomes chlorotic if the pH is too high. Prefers a pH between 6 and 6.5.
A good butterfly plant[1].
The plant flowers mainly during April to June but also produces cleistogomous flowers during the summer. These flowers do not open but fertilize themselves and produce viable seed.
All members of this genus have more or less edible leaves and flower buds, though those species with yellow flowers can cause diarrhoea if eaten in large quantities[2][3][4].
Range: Europe, including Britain, from Sweden south and east to Spain, Italy and Greece,
Habitat: Woods, hedgebanks, heaths, pastures and mountain rocks on all types of soil that are not too wet[5].
Edibility: Young leaves and flower buds - raw or cooked[6]. When added to soup they thicken it in much the same way as okra[3][4].
Flowers and buds - raw[3].
A tea can be made from the leaves[3].
Usage: Plants can be grown as a ground cover when spaced about 30cm apart each way[7].
Pollinators: Bees, lepidoptera
Soil: Can grow in light, medium, and heavy soils.
Drainage: Prefers well drained soil.
Seed Ripens: Late Spring-Mid Summer
Flower Type: Hermaphrodite
Links
References
- ↑ Baines, Chris. Making a Wildlife Garden.
- ↑ Elias, Thomas. A Field Guide to North American Edible Wild Plants. Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1982.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Harrington, Harold. Edible Native Plants of the Rocky Mountains. University of New Mexico Press, 1967.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 McPherson, Alan and Sue McPherson. Wild Food Plants of Indiana. Indiana University Press, 1977.
- ↑ Clapham, Arthur and Tom Tootin, Edmund Warburg. Flora of the British Isles. Cambridge University Press, 1962.
- ↑ Tanaka, Tyōzaburō. Tanaka's Cyclopaedia of Edible Plants of the World. Keigaku Publishing, 1976.
- ↑ Thomas, Graham. Plants for Ground Cover. Everyman, 1990.