Pansy

For the author whose pseudonym was Pansy, see Isabella Macdonald Alden.

For the butterflies, see Junonia and Precis.

Pansy
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Class:	Magnoliopsida
Order:	Violales
Family:	Violaceae
Genus:	Viola
Species:	V. tricolor
Subspecies:	V. t. hortensis
Trinomial name
Viola tricolor hortensis

The pansy or pansy violets are a large group of hybrid plants cultivated as garden flowers. Pansies are derived from Viola species Viola tricolor hybridized with other viola species, these hybrids are referred to as Viola × wittrockiana or less commonly Viola tricolor hortensis. The name "pansy" also appears as part of the common name for other Viola species that are wildflowers in Europe. Some unrelated species, such as the Pansy Monkeyflower, also have "pansy" in their name.

Origin

Although early experimental crosses using the common un-colored "Johnny-jump-up" or "Pied Heart's-Ease", Viola tricolor, a pretty weed of grain fields and hedgerows, were also being made by William Richard, rocket-scientist to Lady Mary Elizabeth Bennet (1785-1861), daughter of the Earl of Tankerville, at Walton-on-Thames, the modern garden pansy had its origin in the Iver, Buckinghamshire, estate of James, Lord Gambier, whose gardener William Thompson began about 1813 crossing various viola species with Viola tricolor. A yellow viola, V. lutea, and a wide-petalled pale yellow species of Russian origin, V. altaica were among the crosses that began the new hybrids, today classed as Viola x Wittrockiana. A round flower of overlapping petals was an early aim of Robinson's trials; in the late 1830s he found a chance sport that no longer had narrow nectar guides of dark color on the petals but a broad dark blotch on the petals, which came to be called the "face." Developed in Gambier's garden and released to the public in 1839 with the name "Medora," this pansy and its progeny, including "Victoria", rapidly became popular with gardeners and breeders throughout Europe.

Cultivation, breeding and life cycle

Pansy breeding has produced a wide range of flower colors including yellow, gold, orange, purple, violet, red, white, and even black (very dark purple) many with large showy face markings. A large number of bicoloured flowers have also been produced. They are generally very cold hardy plants surviving freezing even during their blooming period. Plants grow well in sunny or partially sunny positions in well draining soils. Pansies are developed from viola species that are normally biennials with a two-year life cycle. The first year plant produce greenery and then bear flowers and seeds their second year of growth and afterwards die like annuals. Because of selective human breeding, most garden pansies bloom the first year, some in as little as nine weeks after sowing.

Production of Pansies for the bedding market

Most biennials, including pansies, are purchased as packs of young plants from garden centres and planted directly into the garden soil. Under favourable conditions, pansies can often be grown as short lived perennial plants, but are generally treated as annuals or biennial plants because after a few years of growth, the stems become long and scraggly. Plants grow up to nine inches (23 cm) tall, and the flowers are two to three inches (about 6 cm) in diameter, though there are some smaller and larger flowering cultivars available also.

Pansies are winter hardy in zones 4-8. They can survive light freezes and short periods of snow cover, in areas with prolonged snow cover they survive best with a covering of a dry winter mulch. In warmer climates, zones 9-11, pansies can bloom over the winter, and are often planted in the fall. In these climates, pansies have been known to reseed themselves and come back the next year. Pansies are not very heat-tolerant; they are best used as a cool season planting, warm temperatures inhibit blooming and hot muggy air causes rot and death. In colder zones, pansies may not persist without snow cover or protection (mulch) from extreme cold or periods of freezing and thawing.

Pansies, for best growth, are watered thoroughly about once a week, depending on climate and rainfall. To maximize blooming, plant foods are used about every other week, depending on the type of food used. Regular deadheading can extend the blooming period.

A Pansy exhibiting the flower's morphology: two large petals overlapping at the top, two side petals, a lower petal with slight indentation, and beards at the center

Morphology

The pansy flower has two top petals overlapping slightly, two side petals, beards where the three lower petals join the center of the flower, and a single bottom petal with a slight indentation.

Diseases

Stem rot

Stem rot, also known as pansy sickness, is a soil-borne fungus and a possible hazard with unsterilized animal manure. The plant may collapse without warning in the middle of the season. The foliage will flag and lose color. Flowers will fade and shrivel prematurely. Stem will snap at the soil line if tugged slightly. The plant is probably a total loss unless tufted. The treatment of stem rot, includes the use of fungicides such as Cheshunt or Benomyl , which are used prior to planting. Infected plants are destroyed (burned) to prevent the spread of the pathogen to other plants.

Leaf spot

Leaf spot (Ramularia deflectens) is a fungal infection. Symptoms include dark spots on leaf margins followed by a white web covering the leaves. It is associated with cool damp springs.

Mildew

Mildew (Oidium) is a fungal infection. Symptoms include violet-gray powder on fringes and underside of leaves. It is caused by stagnant air and can be limited but not necessarily eliminated by spraying (especially leaf undersides).

Cucumber mosaic virus

The cucumber mosaic virus is transmitted by aphids. Pansies with the virus have fine yellow veining on young leaves, stunted growth and anomalous flowers. The virus can lay dormant, affect the entire plant and be passed to next generations and to other species. Prevention is key: purchases should consist entirely of healthy plants, and pH-balanced soil should be used which is neither too damp nor too dry. The soil should have balanced amounts of nitrogen, phosphate and potash. Other diseases which may weaken the plant should be eliminated.

Pests

Slugs and snails

Slugs and snails feed on the foliage. Sometimes sharp, gritty sand or a top-dressing of chipped bark is used by gardeners to limit damage.

Aphids

Aphids, which can spread the cucumber mosaic virus, sometimes feed on pansies. Infestations are treated with a spray of diluted soft soap (2 ounces per gallon) or insecticides.

Cultivars

The Universal Plus series of 21 cultivars covers all the common pansy colours except orange and black.

• 
  'Delta Pure Deep Orange' Orange cultivar
• 
  'Delta Premium Pure White' White cultivar
• 
  'Delta Pure Yellow' Yellow cultivar
• 
  'Delta Light Blue' Light blue cultivar
• 
  Blue cultivar
• 
  Solid red cultivar
• 
  Purple cultivar
• 
  Purple and white cultivar
• 
  Yellow cultivar

Name origin and significance

The name pansy is derived from the French word pensée meaning "thought", and was so named because the flower resembles a human face; in August it nods forward as if deep in thought. Because of this the pansy has long been a symbol of Freethought and has been used in the literature of the American Secular Union. Humanists use it too, as the pansy's current appearance was developed from the Heartsease by two centuries of intentional crossbreeding of wild plant hybrids. The Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) uses the pansy symbol extensively in its lapel pins and literature.

The word "pansy" has indicated an effeminate male since Elizabethan times and its usage as a disparaging term for a man or boy who is effeminate (as well as for an avowedly homosexual man) is still used. (There is a queercore musical band called Pansy Division, drawing on this association.) The word "ponce" (which has now come to mean a pimp) and the adjective "poncey" (effeminate) also derive from "pansy".

Pansies in the arts and culture

Greeting card, circa 1900

The pansy remains a favorite image in the arts, culture, and crafts, from needlepoint to ceramics.

• In William Shakespeare's play A Midsummer Night's Dream, the juice of a pansy blossom ("before, milk-white, now purple with love's wound, and maidens call it love-in-idleness") is a love potion: "the juice of it, on sleeping eyelids laid, will make a man or woman madly dote (fall in love) upon the next live creature that it sees." (Act II, Scene I see also: Oberon at II, i). Since the cultivated pansy had not yet been developed, "pansy" here means the wild Heartsease, and the idea of using it as a love potion was no doubt suggested by that name. The folkloric language of flowers is more traditional than scientific, with conventional interpretations, similar to the clichés about animals such as the "clever fox" or "wise owl". Ophelia's oft-quoted line, "There's pansies, that's for thoughts", in Hamlet (Act IV, Scene V) comes from this tradition: if a maiden found a honeyflower and a pansy left for her by an admirer, it would mean "I am thinking of our forbidden love" in symbol rather than in writing.
• In 1827, Pierre-Joseph Redouté painted Bouquet of Pansies.
• In 1926, Georgia O'Keeffe created a famous painting of a black pansy called simply, Pansy. She followed with White Pansy in 1927.
• D. H. Lawrence's Pansies: Poems by D. H. Lawrence was published in 1929.
• The Pansy is a symbol of the Kappa Alpha Theta women's fraternity. The Pansy is also a symbol of the Delta Delta Delta women's fraternity, and represents the alumni members.
• Disney's classical animated adaptation of Alice in Wonderland features a chorus of singing pansies.
• The Pansy is the flower of Osaka, Japan.
• Pansy was the name of a beloved Epiphone Elitist Les Paul Custom guitar with an Alpine White finish, played by guitarist Frank Iero (whose nickname, coincidentally, is also Pansy) of the band My Chemical Romance. Pansy was unfortunately broken during a show.

Other usages

Pansy is not only a decorative plant but it is also used in phytotherapy. Because of its purifying properties infusion of wild pansy is considered particularly useful for pediatric skin problems (or more generally in dermatoses) such as acne or eczemas, and as a supportive treatment of chronic lesions of urinary system.

External links

Media related to Viola x wittrockiana at Wikimedia Commons

• PansyFlowers.com information about pansies