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PANSY, or HEARTSEASE

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Originally appearing in Volume V20, Page 682 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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See also:

PANSY, or HEARTSEASE . This See also:flower has been so See also:long cultivated that its source is a See also:matter of uncertainty. As we now see it, it is a purely artificial See also:production, differing considerably from any See also:wild plant known. It is generally supposed to be merely a cultivated See also:form of See also:Viola tricolor (see See also:VIOLET), a See also:corn-See also:field See also:weed, while others assert it to be the result of hybridization between V. tricolor and other See also:species such as V. altaica, V. grandiflora, &c. Some experiments of M. See also:Carriere go to show that seeds of the wild V. tricolor will produce forms so like those of the cultivated pansy that it is reasonable to assume that that flower has originated from the wild plant by continuous selection. The changes that have been effected from the wild type are, Wild Pansy (Viola tricolor), about See also:half nat. See also:size. 1, Stamen, with See also:spur. 3, Transverse See also:section of same. 2, See also:Pistil, after fertilization, cut 1–3 enlarged. lengthwise, showing the numer- ous parietally attached ovules. however, more striking to the See also:eye than really fundamental.

Increase in size, an alteration in form, by virtue of which the narrow oblong petals are converted into circular ones, and See also:

variations in the intensity and See also:distribution of the See also:colour—these are the changes that have been wrought by continued selection, while the more essential parts of the flower have been relatively unaffected. The See also:modern varieties of the pansy consist of the show varieties, and the See also:fancy varieties, obtained from See also:Belgium, and now very much improved. Show varieties are subdivided according to the colour of the See also:flowers into selfs, See also:white grounds and yellow grounds. The fancy or Belgian pansies have various See also:colours blended, and the petals are blotched, streaked or edged. The bedding varieties, known as violas or tufted pansies, have been raised by See also:crossing the See also:pale-See also:blue Viola cornuta, and also V. lutea, with the show pansies. They are hardier than the true pansies and are See also:free-blooming sorts marked rather by effectiveness of colour in the See also:mass than by quality in the individual flower; they are extremely useful in See also:spring and summer flower-gardening. The pansy flourishes in well enriched See also:garden See also:soil, in an open but cool situation, a loamy soil being preferable. Cow-dung is the best manure on a See also:light soil. The established sorts are increased by cuttings, whilst seeds are sown to procure novelties. The cuttings, which should consist by preference of the smaller non-flowering growths from the See also:base of the plant, may be inserted See also:early in See also:September, in sandy soil, under a See also:hand-light or in boxes under See also:glass, and as soon as rooted should be removed to a fresh See also:bed of See also:fine sandy soil. The seeds may be sown in See also:July, See also:August or September. The bed may be prepared early in September, to be in readiness for planting, by being well manured with cow-dung and trenched up to a See also:depth of 2 ft.

The See also:

plants should be planted in rows at about a See also:foot apart. In spring they should be mulched with half-rotten manure, and the shoots as they lengthen should be pegged down into this enriched See also:surface to induce the foranation of new roots. If the blooms show signs of exhaustion by the inconstancy of their colour or marking, all the flowers should be picked off, and this See also:top-dressing and pegging-down See also:process performed in a thorough manner, watering in dry See also:weather, and keeping as cool as possible. Successional beds may be put in about See also:February, the See also:young plants being struck later, and wintered in See also:cold frames. The fancy pansies require similar treatment, ,but are generally of a more.vigorous constitution. When grown in pots in a cold See also:frame, about half a dozen shoots filling out a 6-in. pot, pansies are very handsome decorative See also:objects. The cuttings should be struck early in August, and the plants shifted into their blooming-pots by the See also:middle of See also:October; a See also:rich open loamy compost is necessary to success, and they must be kept free of See also:aphides. Both the potted plants and those grown in the open beds benefit by the use of liquid manure.

End of Article: PANSY, or HEARTSEASE

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