Bird's Foot Violet

Viola pedata

Named after its leaves which resemble a bird's foot... This gorgeous violet is native to a large portion of eastern North America and thrives in sandy areas, rocky slopes, and other sunny, very well-drained habitats that are undisturbed. Three different color varieties can be found in the wild; bicolor (pictured above), lilac, and white. I have found both the bicolor and solid lilac varieties in abundance within glades and some prairies here in Missouri. Additionally, this species hosts fritillary butterfly larvae and provides nectar to many other butterflies and bees.

April 18th, 2024

St. Francois County, Missouri, USA

Olivia R. Myers

@oliviarosaline

More violets 💜

Paul de Longpré (1855-1911) "Invoice of Violets"

Stand tall in your field of dreams!

Mab’s drawlloween club day 1: self-portrait

“I’m doing my best”

Violets based Ace and Trans moodboard with the names Ken x Kylie! ^^ For an anon~ Hope you like how it turned out!

Want one? Send an ask~ -mod Jay

Felt violet pin 💜 available here. Sold!

Etsy | Instagram | TikTok

Do you know what a violet tastes and smells like? Nowadays we usually think of “violet” simply as a colour, but it is also describes a unique taste/scent from a plant - the Sweet Violets (Viola odorata). These dainty native British wildflowers are abundant in the lawns and hedges of my garden in March and April. Sweet Violets are found across Europe, Asia, and more recently in North America and Australia.

Try smelling a violet and you’ll find the scent is intensely fresh, spicy, floral, and clean - and that it appears to vanish instantaneously. This is a chemical trick by the volatile molecule “ionone”, which binds to olfactory receptors in the nose and “shuts down” the sense of smell temporarily. The flower is still scented, but you can’t smell it again until the scent molecules leave your nose and free up your olfactory receptors. Alpha and Beta Ionone are found in many flower scents, and in artificially created perfumes, but their unusually high concentration in Sweet Violets creates this puzzling effect.

Violet scent and flavour was all the rage in Europe in the 19th century. Napoleon’s wife Empress Marie Louise Bonaparte popularised Sweet Violet perfume in the early 1800’s. The original perfumes and candies were infused with costly oil distilled from real flowers until the 1890’s when chemists invented a synthetic violet scent. This innovation meant violet scented soaps and perfume sprays were available to people of all social classes in the late Victorian and Edwardian eras. Violet flavoured candies are still popular in France and a few “retro” British sweets like C Howard’s Violets still use synthetic violet flavour.

I like to eat the occasional violet from my garden to experience the unique flavour and scent. Sweet Violets are edible and ideal for decorating cakes and salads. I’m not sure why violet scent and flavour disappeared from the popular imagination, possibly due to over-saturation once it became widely available in the late 19th century and what was once rare became vulgar. Maybe it’s ready to make a comeback!

Violet Wood Sorrel

Oxalis violacea

This beautiful oxalis violacea with showy, soft violet blooms is a perennial species native to the eastern and central United States.

May 12th, 2023

Jefferson County, Missouri, USA

Olivia R. Myers

@oliviarosaline

Spring flowers in my backyard 🌸🌷🌞🦋🤍

Iris Mesopotamica

As above, so below.