The Urban Pantheist

photos by cottonmanifesto

Common blue violet. Viola sorora

Imagine my horror when I decided that violet would be a good urban species to cover, only to discover there are over 500 species (more than Rhododendron!). Fortunately, a brief look at the literature confirms what I suspected: most of the time we see violets in the city we're seeing a single species, Viola sorora. Violet is the weed that is rarely considered a weed. They produce a lovely flower (that can be either white or purple), form a nice ground cover, and, as a bonus, are safe to eat. Violet flavored gum and candy used to be fairly widely available. Violets have been cultivated into countless varieties of pansies. The field pansy, or Johnny jump-up, is a European wildflower occasionally encountered as an urban species.

The distinctive five-petaled flower of the violet is a combination target and landing pad for pollenating insects. Violet is the state flower of the most densely populated state, New Jersey, the very densely populated state of Rhode Island, and the states of Wisconsin and Illinois.

( closer )