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Herbal Database Search ResultsBack to: Pathways Main Search Page For Metaphysical uses visit The Witchs Haven Viola diffusa
Physical CharacteristicsPerennial. . The flowers are hermaphrodite (have both male and female organs) and are pollinated by Insects. We rate it 2/5 for edibility and 2/5 for medicinal use. The plant prefers light (sandy), medium (loamy) and heavy (clay) soils and requires well-drained soil. The plant prefers acid and neutral soils. It can grow in semi-shade (light woodland) or no shade. It requires moist soil. Habitats and Possible LocationsWoodland, Sunny Edge, Dappled Shade.Edible UsesFlowers; Leaves; Tea.
Young leaves and flower buds - raw or cooked[105]. When added to soup
they thicken it in much the same way as okra[85, 159]. Some caution is
advised if the plant has yellow flowers since these can cause diarrhoea if
eaten in large quantities[62].
Medicinal UsesDisclaimerBlood tonic; Depurative; Miscellany.
Blood tonic, depurative. Aids tissue regeneration[147].
Other UsesNone knownCultivation detailsWe have very little information on this species and do not know if it will be hardy in Britain, though judging by its native range it should succeed outdoors in most parts of the country. The following notes are based on the general needs of the genus.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[200]. 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[62, 85, 159]. PropagationSeed - 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. SuppliersFor more details of plant suppliers please see our Suppliers Page which lists many more places to look. Web References
References for the family Violaceae.
See the PFAF Links Pages for other sources. Also try Photos and info from the The Plants Database which has 14,000 images. References[58] Ohwi. G. Flora of Japan. (English translation) Smithsonian Institution 1965 [62] Elias. T. and Dykeman. P. A Field Guide to N. American Edible Wild Plants. Van Nostrand Reinhold 1982 ISBN 0442222009 [85] Harrington. H. D. Edible Native Plants of the Rocky Mountains. University of New Mexico Press 1967 ISBN 0-8623-0343-9 [105] Tanaka. T. Tanaka's Cyclopaedia of Edible Plants of the World. Keigaku Publishing 1976 [147] ? A Barefoot Doctors Manual. Running Press ISBN 0-914294-92-X [159] McPherson. A. and S. Wild Food Plants of Indiana. Indiana University Press 1977 ISBN 0-253-28925-4 [200] Huxley. A. The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. 1992. MacMillan Press 1992 ISBN 0-333-47494-5 [218] Duke. J. A. and Ayensu. E. S. Medicinal Plants of China Reference Publications, Inc. 1985 ISBN 0-917256-20-4 Readers CommentsAllium vinealeMichael J. Orlove D.I.C., D. Phil (mo42@cornell.edu) Sun, 25 Jul 1999 Universe! Dear Rich, 24-July-1999 I discovered your page with the following URL: http://www.scs.leeds.ac.uk/pfaf/onions.html In it you made reference to Allium ursinum, as "wild garlic". I always thought A. ursinum was a rare species in North American woods, and that in Britain and North America the term was usually applied to A vineale. It is also applied to A. canadesne as you know, and also feral populations of A. sativum whose origin in the New world is considered mysterious, Native Americans and early White settlers have both been suspected of introducing it, or possibly it spread on its own without human agency (which I doubt). A. vineale is a tubular leaved species but it is much more closely related to A. ampeloprasum, A. sativum, A., scorodoprasum, A. shaeonoprasum, and A. rosem than to A. cepa, or A. fistulosum. It is the one that is a pest in wheatfields because of the similarity of its bulbils in shape and density to wheat kernels, making mechanical separation very difficult. what has fascinated me so much about A. vineale is its extreme variation in umbel contents even within a local population. some plants have flowers some bulbils, and some both. When bulbils are few or absent in the umbel, the blossoms are VERY showy --being companulate instead of ovatge. At such times they are purple instead of green. The very showy form is known as A. V. capsuliferum in reference to its seed capsules. the half and half (bulbils and blossoms) form is called A. V. typicum, and the all bulbil one is A. v. compactgum. Two dark pigmented bulbilforms are also described, one reproduces like compactum, and is called A. v. fuscescens, and the other appears to have viviparous bulbils, but the "sprouts" are actually non-vestigal blades on scale leaves on the bulbils, and is known as A. v. crinitum. crinitum usually has one or 2 ovate flowers per umbel which are lavender or purple in color. All sorts of intermediates exist between these forms. Here in Ithaca fuscescens-like ones have flowers, and crinitum like ones don't or crinitum like ones will have many flowers and viable flowers with many capsuls forming. I once found a clump of capsuliferum surrounded by a vast field of hundreds and thousands of typicum. Those typicum near the capliferum had purple flowers like the capsuliferum, but the ones farther out had the green flowers typical of typicum. The blossoms of this species are usually visited by tiny ants, sweat bees, or nothing at all, but the capsuliferum where being actively and aggressively visited by large bumblebees (Bombus pennsylvanicus --a large pocket maker, related to the British species B agrorum, but as big as B. terristris). Large paper wasps (Polistes fuscatus) were equally present and interested in the nectar. An article by Hugo Iltis in the 1940's (it was either in Scientific Monthly or Atlantic Monthly) claimed that this showy capsuliferum form made it as far north a as North Carolina, and . v. typicum was as good as you could get in the Northeast. Nevertheless this wonderful clump of capsuliferum I found was in the Bronx! that was in 1979, and it continued to persist there until 1983. could this have been global warming? the real question was this capsuliferum more related to the non - sexual nonspecific neighbors around it, or capsuliferum in N. Ccarolina? did it evolve denovo from non-sexual or less sexual forms? Many biologists say it is a mystery how sex evolved to begin with (the origin - of- sex question" and it is equally a mystery how sex stays in the population and doesn't get selected against (the maintenance - of -sex question). John Maynard Smith (at the University of Susex), Goeffrey Parker (University of Liverpool), and George Williams (University of the State of New York at Stonybrook) have become famous elucidating and trying to solve this mystery. It seems that mating with a stranger may further the fitness of your offspring, but it appears not enough to justify throwing half-of your genes away, as a female does when mating. Plants with both cleistogamous and chasmogamous flowers, like Violo sp., Impatiens capensis (Orange balsam), and I. noli-tangeri (touch-me-not), and the very similar North American I. palida, not to mention the hog peanut, Amphicarpaea xxx, present a similar example of this mystery. What are your thoughts on this issue? How far north does A. v. capsuliferum make it in Britain? I have found capsuliferum in Interlaken, N. Y. Near Ithaca, N. Y. where Cornell University is, but these ones were not as tall or showy as the ones from the much warmer Bronx. but they were capsuliferum, and made good seed. I have 2 accessions of them, one from a bulbil, and the other from a seed collected from the same umbel in Interlaken. I have been unable to get them to blossom or even bolt with bulbils in my garden, just getting non scapigqarous growth every spring. There is some folklore in this country that A. vineale takes on its capsuliferum form when in the vacinity of an underground stream, and dowsers exploit the information provided by the occurrence of the plant in particular instances. Well I must go now, Please forgive my sloppy typing, I am disabled and it takes me eons to proofread things. Incidentally, are you in &ndndndnd, or Yorkshire? Some day I will, if I only live, compare the DNA of different forms of A. V. vineale from different locations. the Bronx material seems to be now absent from the original site, I have been back 3 times over the years, and the material I collected now exists as seed in cold storage, but I lack access to it over a technicality (it was shipped to another storage facility instead to Harvard where I was going to grow it out, due to an accident, and it would take a very large sum to recover it, as well as the permission of the person who became its accidental owner who is not willing to release it to me. this is very frustrating. sincerely yours, Michael J. Orlove D.I.C., D. Phil Cross references: Plants: Allium ursinum, Allium canadense, Allium canadense mobilense, Allium sativum, Allium sativum ophioscorodon, Allium vineale, Impatiens capensis, Impatiens noli-tangere, Impatiens pallida. Genera: Viola, Amphicarpaea. Web-pages: Allium Species - the Perennial Onions, PFAF - Allium ursinum, Wild Garlic. Main Search Page Bibliography
Plant information taken from the
Plants For A Future -
Species Database.
Copyright (c) 1997-2003.
This page (UK)
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