Wildlife
Violets and pansies form a simple and adaptable group of flowering plants. Gardeners will be familiar with them as common bedding and pot plants. The common garden varieties are the result of mixing and crossing some of the most beautiful wild species, of which there are many, with colours ranging from the famed violet through various shades of blue, yellow and white. Outside the garden, wild violets and pansies grow on windy mountains, arable and waste land. The 500 or so species can be found all over the world, with some needing to be controlled as weeds.
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Posh pansies
From humble ancestral weeds to showy garden specimens.
From humble ancestral weeds to showy garden specimens.
High brown fritillary
One small flower, food for the high brown fritillary butterfly, flourishes under the shadow of bracken.
One small flower, food for the high brown fritillary butterfly, flourishes under the shadow of bracken.
The Violets and pansies can be found in a number of locations including: Asia, Australia, China, Europe, Himalayas, North America, Russia, South America, United Kingdom. Find out more about these places and what else lives there.
The following habitats are found across the Violets and pansies distribution range. Find out more about these environments, what it takes to live there and what else inhabits them.
Discover what these behaviours are and how different plants and animals use them.
Additional data source: Animal Diversity Web
Viola (US pron.: /vaɪˈoʊlə/ and UK /ˈvaɪ.ələ/) is a genus of flowering plants in the violet family Violaceae, with around 400–500 species distributed around the world. Most species are found in the temperate Northern Hemisphere, however some are also found in widely divergent areas such as Hawaii, Australasia, and the Andes.
Some Viola species are perennial plants, some are annual plants, and a few are small shrubs. A large number of species, varieties and cultivars are grown in gardens for their ornamental flowers. In horticulture the term "pansy" is normally used for those multi-coloured, large-flowered cultivars which are raised annually or biennially from seed and used extensively in bedding. The terms "viola" and "violet" are normally reserved for small-flowered annuals or perennials, including the species.
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Oak wood
Farmland
Brownfield land
Chalk grassland
Beech wood
Heathland
Wildflower meadow
Mountain grassland
Moorland
Parkland
Broadleaf forest
Temperate grassland
Urban
