Topical Tens: February 26: Violets

Tuesday, 26 February 2019

February 26: Violets

The French Revolutionary Calendar celebrated Violets on this date. Violets are spring flowering plants which belong to the family Violaceae. There are around 400-500 different species. They are native to the temperate Northern Hemisphere but are also found in Hawaii, Australasia, and the Andes in South America. They like moist and shady places, such as hedgerows.

Despite the name, a violet flower isn't always violet in colour. They also come in Blue, Yellow, White and cream. The flowers have five petals. They contain both male and female parts, but are usually pollinated by insects.
In the language of flowers, violets represent delicate love, affection, modesty, faith, nobility, intuition and dignity. The meaning varies depending on the colour of the flower. Blue violets mean love and faithfulness, white violets represent purity and chastity, and yellow violets mean high worth and goodness.
The fruit of the violet plant is called a capsule. The capsule cracks and explodes, expelling the seeds away from the parent plant.
The ancient Greeks and Romans cultivated violets. The Romans made 'Vinum Violatum', violet Wine, to drink at festivals. The Greeks used it in love potions and also wore garlands of violets around their heads to ward off headaches and dizzy spells.
The violet is the birth flower for the month of February.
Napoleon Bonaparte loved them. His friends nicknamed him Corporal Violet because he promised to return from exile in time for violet season. They even became a way to determine if someone was loyal to Napoleon or not. People who said they liked violets when asked were deemed to be on his side. When his wife Josephine died, he covered her grave with violets.
Violets feature in poems by Sappho, describing her lost love: "Close by my side you put around yourself [many wreaths] of violets and Roses." In another poem, her lost love wears "violet tiaras, braided rosebuds, dill and crocus twined around". Hence they have become associated with lesbian love.
Wisconsin, Rhode Island, Illinois, and New Jersey all have violets as their state flower.
Violets smell lovely, but the scent goes away after the first sniff. This is because violets contain a chemical called ionine which temporarily desensitises the nose. However, the scent is popular and often used in perfumes.
You can even eat them. Not only is violet essence used in liqueurs and sweets, such as Parma Violets, the flowers are sometimes used as garnish. It's fine to eat them, in fact, they're good for you - violet flowers and stems contain more Vitamin C than most vegetables.

I write fiction, too! My characters include some British superheroes and a psychic detective. You never know, your new favourite could be here! You won't know unless you look...