violet

violet, common name for some members of the Violaceae, a family of chiefly perennial herbs (and sometimes shrubs, small trees, or climbers) found on all continents. Violets, including the genus Viola and similar related species, are popular as florists', garden, and wildflowers. Of this large group, with its fragrant blossoms ranging from deep purple to yellow or white, over 60 species are native to the United States and well over 100 varieties are offered in trade as ornamentals. Florists' violets are usually the sweet, or English, violet (V. odorata). Garden violets (often called violas) are generally hybrids and may be purple, blue, rose, yellow, white, or combinations of these, sometimes with double flowers. It became the flower of Athens; followers of Napoleon, who promised to return from Elba with violets in the spring, used the blossom as a badge; and in the United States a violet is the floral emblem of three states (New Jersey, Rhode Island, and Wisconsin). The flavors of various species, particularly the sweet violet, have been used for perfume, dye, and medicine and have been candied. The common pansy was originally derived, long ago, from the Old World V. tricolor, one of several species called heartsease and Johnny-jump-up; the Eastern field pansy, a wildflower of North America, is a separate species. Some unrelated plants are also called violets, e.g., the African violet of the family Gesneriaceae (gesneria family) and the dog-toothed violet of the family Liliaceae (lily family). True violets are classified in the division Magnoliophyta, class Magnoliopsida, order Violales, family Violaceae.

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violet

Any of the approximately 500 species of herbaceous plants or low shrubs that make up the genus Viola, which includes the small, solid-coloured violets and the larger-flowered, often multicoloured violas and pansies. Many Viola species have two types of flowers: the showy spring flower is infertile; the less conspicuous summer flower is self-fertilizing. The best-known species of Viola have heart-shaped leaves. The popular florist's violets, consisting of several hybrids (many of them V. odorata), are usually called sweet violets. The family Violaceae, to which Viola belongs, has members worldwide; they are typically small trees and shrubs that grow as low vegetation beneath the taller trees of forests. The so-called African violet belongs to the gesneriad family. See also dogtooth violet.

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violet

any of a group of colours that vary in saturation but have the same purplish-blue hue. They lie at one end of the visible spectrum, next to blue; approximate wavelength range 445--390 nanometres

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violet

1. any of various temperate perennial herbaceous plants of the violaceous genus Viola, such as V. odorata (sweet (or garden) violet), typically having mauve or bluish flowers with irregular showy petals

2. any other plant of the genus Viola, such as the wild pansy

3. any of various similar but unrelated plants, such as the African violet

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violet

symbol of faithfulness. [Flower Symbolism: Flora Symbolica, 178; Kunz, 327]

See : Faithfulness

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violet

of then city-state Athens. [Flower Symbolism: Brewer Note-Book, 334]

See : Flower Or Plant, National

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violet

of Illinois, New Jersey, Rhode Island, and Wisconsin. [Flower Symbolism: Golenpaul, 630]

See : Flower, State

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violet

Christian liturgical color; worn during Lent and Advent. [Color Symbolism: Jobes, 357]

See : Penitence