Pansy flowers. Description, features, types and care of pansies
Impossible to pass by colors pansies indifferent. Whether they are on the balcony or flowerbed. Several feelings immediately overwhelm you: tenderness, romance.
All varieties are so similar to each other and at the same time so different. The delicate aroma and cheerful colors of the petals cannot but please the eye.
Description and features of pansies
Pansies called viola tricolor, popularly Ivan da Marya. They belong to the violet family. Plants exist as annuals, biennials and perennials.
Flowers are divided into spring and summer blooming. This is probably their uniqueness: any variety is suitable for choosing the flowering time.
It all depends on the landing time. The root is a brownish rod in the form of a rod with small branches.
The stem extends from 10 to 30 cm. The inside is hollow, triangular, erect or branched. Single buds with five petals sit on triangular peduncles with two bracts near.
The petals differ in size. Two of them are larger than the others. The color of the petals has a different range of shades, even black. There are spots in the center of the bud, and a picture emerges, like a muzzle.
Poetic name of pansy gave rise to many legends. Many countries and even regions have their own answers about why pansies are called:
By ancient legend, the flower got its name in honor of the girl Anyuta, who could not stand the separation and injustice towards herself and died.
And it all started like in a fairy tale, the guy fell in love with the girl, she reciprocated. The seducer simply disappeared forever.
After her death, flowers with different colors, as if betraying her feelings: hope, resentment, sadness.
The Romans say that men spying on the goddess of love were turned into eyes.
In Russia, according to legend, a girl and a guy loved each other. Their parents separated them and married the guy to a rich girl. Anya died of melancholy.
Another legend, a girl, not getting a guy, died of melancholy. grew up on the edge of the road, as if they continued to wait for their loved one.
Planting and propagating pansies
Pansies in the open ground planted in a sunny place with slight shade. Partial shade is also suitable, but there is a slight difference in the final stage.
In the light they grow with larger buds than in the shade. But the duration of flowering in the shade is longer. Pansies prefer light, nutritious, well-drained soil.
Before planting seedlings, the soil is dug up and saturated with humus and mineral additives. Grow pansies can be done by seedlings, seeds and cuttings.
By seeds:
Planting material sown in June open ground to a designated bed. Pour a layer of soil on top and compact the soil a little.
As soon as two true leaves appear, make a pick. Roots in front planting pansies shorten This will make it possible to develop the root system well.
The step between seedlings is from 10 to 25 cm. It all depends on the variety. For the winter, cover the seedlings with spruce branches and create a barrier for snow retention. Pansies from seeds will bloom in spring.
Growing pansies from seeds
Seedlings:
The substrate is prepared and the seeds are sown in March. Sprinkle with soil and cover with glass. Containers are stored in a dark place until germination.
Periodically spray and ventilate the containers to prevent the soil from rotting. As soon as the shoots have appeared, the containers are placed in a bright place.
When two true leaves appear, the seedlings are planted in separate flowerpots. The seedlings are gradually accustomed to street walks. To do this, take them out onto the balcony or terrace.
Pansy seedlings are planted in open ground after stable weather without frost has established.
Although it is considered a frost-resistant crop, it can freeze. Flowering can be expected a month after planting in open ground.
Pansy flower seedlings
By cuttings:
Green shoots are cut off from mother bush in June. The cuttings are planted directly in open ground close to each other. In this case, choose a shaded place, for example, under.
Cover the culture with jars to create a good microclimate. As soon as new leaves begin to appear, it will take root.
By autumn the cuttings will get stronger, then they are planted on permanent place. Pansies at home can be grown using the same methods.
Only the landing site should be on an open balcony. If you want to plant them on the windowsill, you should always keep the window open.
Caring for pansies
Loves sunny spaces when the temperature is from 10 to 25 degrees C. Flowers do not lose their decorative effect even at a temperature of 3-5 degrees C.
But more high temperatures will have a detrimental effect on the plant. The bushes will simply burn out, and those that remain will stop blooming and will resume flowering only in the fall.
Therefore, in such a situation, shading should be considered, for example, non-woven material. At home, you should not choose Western and south balconies. The most optimal side is the eastern side.
Watering should be moderate. Do not overwater the soil or let it dry out. Waterlogged soil can develop rot, which will lead to blackleg disease and destroy flowers.
At caring for pansies, do not forget about fertilizing. In the garden, feed the bushes once a month. Instances on the balcony require more frequent application, that is, weekly.
The first feeding can be done two weeks after planting. The plant responds well to complex minerals.
When adding them, you need to be careful not to catch the leaves, pour only at the root. Avoid fresh manure; the plant cannot tolerate it. Loosen the soil after watering. Remove weeds.
Rejuvenation perennial plants carried out after 3 years. This will give impetus to lush flowering. Maintain decorative properties by regularly removing faded buds.
For the winter, cover the flowers with spruce branches and remove them from them in early spring to prevent rotting.
Send balcony specimens to a room with a temperature of 5-15 degrees C. If you have a garden, you can plant them in the ground 21 days before frost.
Types and varieties of pansies
Among the variety of species and varieties, the most popular specimens are.
Small-flowered pansies
In the photo there are pansies Flamenco. Flowers, corrugated in various colors. In the center are petals with blurred shading of yellow and bright red.
The volume of the inflorescence is up to 5 cm. The bush stretches up to 23 cm. In landscape design, it is used to decorate flower beds, borders, and flower beds.
The flowers are frost-resistant, so they can easily tolerate cold climates. northern regions. Flamencos are distinguished by long flowering, starting in April and ending in late autumn.
They are grown in partial shade, but do better in sunny areas. If you plant flamenco seeds in June, then in August you can safely transplant them from the growing bed to a permanent place. Next spring the flowers will delight you with lush blooms.
Pansies flamenco
Rococo. The compact plant stretches up to 20 cm. The folded and corrugated petals collected in a bouquet look like terry ones.
Rococo in flower beds look like exotic plant. There is one drawback: Rococo has poor frost resistance.
Rococo pansy flowers
Among homemade pansies You can highlight F1 Angel. Miniature buds up to 4 cm in diameter can be of different colors.
Pansy variety angel
Description of medium-flowered pansies
Quedlinburger Riesen. The volume of inflorescences is up to 7.5 cm. The buds are white, blue, yellow, crimson with a yellow eye in the center of the petals and black spots near the base.
Pansy Quedlinburger Risen
Giant Forrunner F1. The buds are bright yellow with brown spots petals closer to the base. Among its fellows it is considered the most winter-hardy specimen.
Pansy Giant Forrunner
Large-flowered varieties of pansies
Shalon Supreme. Inflorescences up to 8.5 cm. Corrugated petals of pale lilac color with light shades. A spot in the center of one of the petals with a cream edging.
Pansy Shalon Supreme
Dynamite. Snow-white buds are combined with rich raspberry tones on the lower petals. What makes the variety original and popular. The diameter of the inflorescence is up to 8.5 cm in diameter.
Pansy flowers Dynamite
Magnum F1. The variety was developed quite recently. The diameter of the bud is over 9 cm. Gentle blue petals with bluish spots.
Pansy magnum
Pansy diseases
Pansy flowers are susceptible to the following diseases:
Cucumber mosaic. The carriers of the virus are insects. The leaves of the flower are wrapped in a roll and torn. The buds look unsightly.
The disease can be prevented by destroying aphids. The infected cannot be saved; they are simply uprooted and burned.
Damage to a flower by cucumber mosaic
Root rot. The disease starts from the roots and is transmitted to the entire plant. The color of the leaves changes and the roots turn brown.
Control: pay attention to the composition and acidity of the soil, adjust watering, treat with fungicides.
Flower disease root rot
Bacterial spotting. The favorable environment is cold, damp weather. The roots become overcooled and spots appear on the leaves.
Control: treat with copper oxychloride; after cold precipitation, collect and burn the infected areas.
Plant damage by bacterial spot disease
Late blight rot. The stems are affected near the very base. The leaves acquire a yellow, then blue tint. If it is on the balcony, you should tear out the plant and burn it. Throw away the earth.
Late blight rot on leaves
Powdery mildew. The first signs on the leaves are white coating, which is transferred to the buds over time.
At the first stage of the disease, these are just spots. They can be easily washed off, but then they increase in size and acquire a denser structure.
The color turns grey. Nitrogenous fertilizers pose a high risk of infection. Control: for preventive purposes, spray the bushes with whey. In case of disease, treat the flower with fungicides, for example Topaz.
Powdery mildew
Pests of pansies
Spider mite. The bush is enveloped in small cobwebs, and dots appear on the leaves. On initial stage treat infections with mineral oil, soapy liquid, and tobacco infusion. If it doesn’t help, use Ditox, Fitoverm, Kungfu.
In the photo, a plant pest is a spider mite.
Aphid. The leaves become deformed, turn yellow, and the characteristic aphid appearance appears. sticky coating. A minor lesion is washed off with a solution of water and soap, planted on ladybugs. In more severe cases, treat with Akarin, Antiilin, Bison.
In the photo there is an aphid
Slugs. Pests nibble the leaves of the flower. It is necessary to fight them even before planting seedlings. Dig up the area, pour in substances that make it difficult for the slug to move: eggshell, crushed stone, etc.
Slugs in the photo
Scatter ash near the bushes. You can prepare traps and collect the “harvest” in the morning. Because slugs attack at night. When fighting slugs, reduce watering and do it only in the morning.
PANSIES (lat. Viola tricolor). “Viola” translated into Russian means “blue”. Popular names: pansy, brother-and-sister, field brothers, moths, half-flower, three-flower, etc. They symbolize fidelity, devotion and wisdom. They are also a symbol of spring because... They are among the first to bloom in meadows after the snow melts.
There are many legends about the origin of their name. According to an old belief, the girl Anyuta was turned into a flower for being too curious about other people's lives. And in Roman mythology, the gods turned men who secretly spied on the bathing goddess of love, Venus, into pansies.
In Rus', in different variations, there was a legend that the girl Anyuta turned into this flower because of love. According to one version, she was in love with a young man, and he reciprocated her feelings. But his parents forced him to marry a rich girl. On their wedding day, Anyuta could not stand it and died of grief and strong love.
According to another legend, Anyuta turned into a flower after waiting for many years for her groom, who went to war but never returned. So the pansies stand by the road, “peering” into the distance with hope.
There is another, sadder option. In one village lived the kind and trusting Anyuta. Unfortunately for her, a handsome young man came to this village with whom she fell in love. And he turned out to be a deceiver. He promised to return for Anyuta, but he left and forgot about her. She waited and waited for her beloved, and from melancholy she withered away and died. On her grave, in memory of strong love, blossomed beautiful flowers, similar to her blue eyes. The three-color petals reflected the whole story of the girl’s short life. White represents hope for mutual love, yellow expresses surprise at the act of a loved one, and purple represents sadness and dashed hopes for happiness. They called those flowers pansies.
In all versions the name is the same. Apparently, a similar story really happened once and shocked people so much that the memory of it was preserved for centuries in the name of the flower.
For Christians of the Middle Ages, pansies are the flower of the Holy Trinity. The dark spot in the center personified the all-seeing eye of God the Father, and the diverging rays represented the radiance emanating from it. The vertices of the triangle symbolized the three faces of the Holy Trinity.
In Belarus and Ukraine, pansies are called bratki. There are several legends about the origin of this name, similar in plot.
Belorusskaya tells about a guy and a girl who fell in love with each other, not knowing that they were brother and sister. When the lovers found out about this, they were horrified by what had happened, but unable to part, and decided to die, not wanting to live in sin. They went into the dense forest, but the animals did not touch them, and the earth did not accept them. Then they turned into unusual flowers that bloomed both blue and yellow. People called those flowers “brothers.”
But the legend is Ukrainian. Once upon a time there lived a brother Ivanko and a sister Maryanka. The family was happy and friendly. But an unexpected misfortune came - my father went to protect native land from enemies, and did not return. And soon, from longing for her husband, her mother also died. The little children were left as orphans. But there were good people. At first their neighbors took them in, and then their married sisters took them to another village and became their parents.
Although Ivanko and Maryanka lived in different families, but were always together: the sisters’ houses were nearby. Over time, love came to them. The adoptive parents found out about this and forbade them to meet. But where there, the lovers could not live without each other for an hour. To get around the ban, they came up with a secret “alphabet” - hanging a colored piece of paper over Maryanka’s window.
If white, Ivanko knows: “I’m at home, but my parents are angry. Don't come today. Meet me in the evening at the old willow tree.” If yellow, then: “Things are really bad. Don't show your face to your parents! We’ll meet tomorrow at the spring.” The good news was conveyed by a blue piece of paper: “No one at home! Come, I’m waiting!”
But soon the parents unraveled their secret signals and, after consulting, told them the truth. That they are not their own children, but the boy and girl themselves are brother and sister, and therefore they cannot be loved. But they couldn’t even think about separation, and, seizing the moment, they ran away to a neighboring village and got married there secretly. And so that no one could ever separate them, they turned into a beautiful flower with colorful petals. So they were taught by the old sorceress, to whom they revealed their secret.
Let's go, sister, in yars, let's scatter with flowers.
Oh you will Blue colour, and I will be yellow.
People will pick flowers, they will take away our sins
sung in an old Ukrainian song. But she just didn’t teach the fortune teller how to become human again. They remain forever beautiful flower, which people, in memory of strong love, called brothers.
And one more legend on the same topic. The Turks attacked their native land, the villagers fought for a long time, but the forces were unequal. The Basurmans captured a large full. Among the prisoners, a black-browed girl was walking to a foreign land, watering her tracks with tears. A young janissary rode nearby on a horse and did not take his eyes off her, could not stop admiring her beauty, and on occasion, secretly threw food to her. And she singled him out among the wild horde, and why, she herself did not know, her heart somehow sank.
We stopped for the night. And even earlier, the Janissary had spoken to the girl on her native language. He persuaded her to escape, promised to love and marry forever if they were lucky enough to return to Ukraine, and she agreed. When, tired from the journey, the infidels, like those sheep, fell asleep, the Janissary threw Turkish clothes to the girl, and they happily slipped out of the camp.
They ran with all their might, their legs were bleeding, but the desire of will gave them strength. Fearing pursuit, they hid in dense thickets. Fatigue inclined them into a sweet sleep. The Janissaries hugged the beauty and kissed her. She did not object and the girl became the wife of a Janissary.
They told each other about themselves. The Janissary told her that the Turks captured him as a child, he recalled what his native village looked like, a hut over a fast stream, a tall pear tree at the gate, a blacksmith shop. The girl listened to him and sobbed heavily: “We committed the most terrible sin with you. You are my older brother. Let the damned enemies die, it’s all because of them. Let heaven incinerate our sinful souls.” And they turned into beautiful flowers, which people called brothers.
It must be borne in mind that similar legends in some places tell about another flower - Ivan da Marya, which is also called bratki there.
There are many beliefs associated with pansies. Previously, it was believed that they were not suitable for flower beds because they were “flowers of the dead”; they are still often planted on graves.
Since ancient times, pansies have been credited with the ability to bewitch love. According to one of the beliefs, you just have to sprinkle their juice on the eyelids of the sleeping desired one and wait for him to wake up and see you first - eternal love guaranteed. True, fulfilling these conditions is not so easy.
A girl whose beloved was a sailor was supposed to bury sea sand in a flowerbed with pansies when he left for a long voyage and water them until sunrise. Then, according to legend, he will think about her all the time while at sea.
Pansies are remarkable not only for their beauty. They belong to a rather unusual group of plants called ballistae (from the Greek “ballo” - “throw”). Ripe pansy boxes, similar to lanterns, rise and open into the form of three boats. The valves, when dry, squeeze the seeds out, as if they were shooting, throwing them out like small projectiles. They scatter over a distance much greater than the size of the flower itself.
Why are flowers called “pansies”? What’s worse about Natasha’s eyes?
An. eyes
Ancient Greeks origin. The peephole was associated with Io, the daughter of the Argive king, who fell in love with Zeus with all her heart, for which his jealous wife, the goddess Hera, was turned into a cow. In order to somehow brighten up the life of his beloved, Zeus grew flowers “an. eyes,” which symbolized a love triangle and, on the one hand, equated a mere mortal with a goddess, and on the other, preserved her belief that Hera’s curse was not eternal.
Another ancient Greek legend associated these flowers with the goddess Aphrodite. One day, Aphrodite, while bathing in a grotto where no human gaze should have penetrated, heard a rustling sound and saw that several mortals were looking at her. In anger, the goddess asked Zeus to punish the impudent ones, and he turned them into flowers, the appearance of which expresses curiosity and surprise.
The Germans call this plant “stepmother” and have composed a touching story about these flowers. The lower petal of the flower, it was said, is the largest and most beautiful - this is the stepmother. The two side ones - smaller, but also beautiful - are her own daughters. And the top two are the smallest, modestly colored - poorly dressed stepdaughters. According to legend, the stepmother used to be upstairs and greatly offended the poor stepdaughters. Good Wizard punished her and turned the flower so that the stepdaughters were at the top and the stepmother at the bottom. As punishment for his evil temper, the wizard gave his stepmother a hated spur, and his daughters a mustache (dark lines on the petals).
There is a legend that says that in An. The eyes were turned to the overly curious girl Anyuta, who spied on other people's lives and interpreted them in her own way.
From time immemorial, Poles and Belarusians have called them “brothers” because several multi-colored petals coexist in one corolla of a flower, and they give them only to those whom they love like brothers.
In Poland, the bride gave an. eyes to the departing groom, and then they symbolized the eternal memory and fidelity of the giver; the same thing was expressed by a bouquet of flowers over the window of the house of a French woman whose fiancé was away.
In England an. Until recently, eyes were used to declare love: it was enough to send this flower and write your name, no more words were required.
The fact is that since the 16th century, in the floral symbolism of many European countries, an. eyes began to serve as a symbol of profundity, fidelity, and wisdom. They began to be called “thought”, “thought”. An. The eyes were even credited with the ability to bewitch love. On Valentine's Day, lovers sent these flowers as a symbol of recognition of a feeling that had previously been kept secret. Therefore, in England an. The eyes are also called “heartfelt peace”, or “heartfelt joy”.
According to legends Slavic peoples, in tricolor petals an. The peephole reflected three periods in the life of the girl Anyuta with a kind heart and trusting, radiant eyes. She lived in a village, believed every word, found an excuse for every action. But, to her misfortune, she met an insidious seducer, who, with oaths, awakened the first feeling in the girl. With all her heart, with all her life, Anyuta reached out to the young man, and the young man was frightened: he hurried on the road for urgent matters, promising his chosen one to return without fail. Anyuta looked at the road for a long time, waiting for her beloved, and quietly faded away from melancholy. And when she died, flowers appeared at the place of her burial, an. eyes, in the tricolor petals of which hope, surprise and sadness are reflected: in the corollas White color- the color of hope, yellow - surprise, purple - sadness.
By the way, the origin of the Russian name for these flowers is unknown, although in Russia, in addition to the name “an. eyes,” this flower is called tricolor, half-flower, and scrofula. And all the names are apt.
For example, the scrofula flower is nicknamed because tea from this plant has long been used in folk medicine to treat scrofula in children. And it is called a triflower because the flower actually has white, yellow and purple petals. Yes, and botanists call it an. eyes of tricolor violet, or viola.
Poster "Pansies" by A. Ralle and Co., unknown artist, late 19th - early. 20th century. Paper, chromolithography, State Historical Museum, Moscow.
For some reason, for some reason
We call flowers with our eyes,
In honor of some Anyuta,
And we don’t know which one ourselves.
(Olga Vysotskaya, “Pansies”, 1966)
Nowadays, few people know that the flower, now known as “pansy”, in ancient times in Rus' was called differently – “cheerful eyes”. Where both the names came from is not known for certain. At one time it was believed that the fashion for “pansies”, like the name of the flower itself, arose after the publication of the novel by L.N. Tolstoy's Anna Karenina.
Here is the famous description from the ball scene in the first part: “Anna was not in lilac, as Kitty certainly wanted, but in a black, low-cut velvet dress, revealing her chiseled, like an old Ivory, full shoulders and chest and rounded arms with a thin, tiny hand.
The entire dress was trimmed with Venetian guipure. On her head, in her black hair, without any admixture, there was a small garland of pansies and the same on the black ribbon of the belt between the white laces.” It is difficult to say why Tolstoy decorated his heroine’s ball gown with pansies, but, in any case, by the time the novel was written, both the flower and its name were already part of the fashionable lexicon.
If still in early XIX century in “Notes of a Contemporary” by S.P. Zhikharev, the German name for tricolor violet - Dreifaltigkeitsblume - was translated as “cheerful eyes”, then in the fashion and news newspaper “Rumor” for 1831, “pansies” are mentioned as decoration for ladies’ hairstyles.
The first reference book to record the new name of the flower was “ encyclopedic Dictionary, compiled by Russian scientists and writers" 1861-1863. Some experts suggest that the reason for the new name of the flower was the popular novel “The Monastery” (1830-1833) by Antony Pogorelsky in the 1830-1840s, the main character of which, Anyuta, was the owner of “large blue eyes, shaded by long black eyelashes »
However, other researchers have discovered that a poem by V.I., published in 1830 in Northern Flowers. Tumansky’s “Pensêee (Dedicated to Gr. E.P.P.)” (1825) was already provided with the author’s note: “A flower known among us as Pansies.”
embroidery pattern
The poem plays on the traditional symbolic meaning of a flower - “memory, recollection, thought”, which is reflected in most European languages:
French – pensêee (“thought”, “memory”),
Spanish pensamiento ("thought")
German gedenkblume from gedenken (“memory, “memory”),
Italian viola del pensiero (literally "violet of thought") or simply pensêee,
English pansy or heartsease (“peace of mind”).
For a long time in Russia there was another name for the flower - “Trinity flower”.
Examples of the use of this name can be found in some famous translations European classics.
Here, for example, is M. Lozinsky’s translation (1933) of the famous scene from Hamlet
W. Shakespeare, where Ophelia explains the symbolic meaning of flowers: “There"s rosemary, that"s for remembrance; pray you, love, remember: and there is pansies, that"s for thoughts" (“Here is rosemary: this is for memories; I ask you, dear, remember; but here is the color of the Trinity, this is for thoughts” - Hamlet, IV, 5. )
One of the legends says that the tricolor petals of pansies reflected three periods of the life of the girl Anyuta with a kind heart and trusting eyes. She lived in a village, believed every word, found an excuse for every action. Unfortunately, she met an insidious seducer and fell in love with him with all her heart. And the young man was afraid of her love and hurried on the road, assuring that he would return soon. Anyuta looked at the road for a long time, quietly fading away from melancholy. And when she died, flowers appeared at the place of her burial, the tricolor petals of which reflected hope, surprise and sadness. This is a Russian legend about a flower.
The Germans call him stepmother, explaining this name like this.
The lowest, largest, most beautifully speckled petal represents the dressed-up stepmother, the two higher, no less beautifully colored petals represent her own daughters. And the two topmost white petals, as if faded, with a lilac tint, are her poorly dressed stepdaughters. Tradition says that before the stepmother was upstairs and the poor stepdaughters below, but the Lord took pity on the poor downtrodden girls and turned the flower.
Another legend. Venus she decided to swim in a remote grotto, but suddenly she hears a rustling and sees that several mortals are looking at her...
Then, falling into indescribable anger, she appeals to Jupiter and begs to punish the daring.
Jupiter heeds her plea and turns them into pansies, the painting of which expresses the curiosity and surprise that led to their death.
Greeks this flower was called flower of Jupiter, and they had such a legend about its origin.
One day, the Thunderer, bored with sitting on his throne of clouds, decided, for the sake of variety, to descend to earth. Proud, unapproachable And about, the daughter of King Inoch, could not resist the spell of the Thunderer and became carried away by him. But jealous Juno soon found out about this connection, and Jupiter, in order to save poor Io from the wrath of his wife, was forced to turn her into a snow-white cow.
Nobody recognized her. True, her father caressed her like a beautiful animal, but he also did not recognize her.
And one day, when her father was feeding her, she began to draw letters in the sand with her feet. He began to peer into what was written in the sand and recognized the unfortunate fate of his beautiful daughter, whom he had considered dead long ago.
The unfortunate daughter and father were inconsolable. And so, in order to soften the terrible fate of Io, the earth, by order of Jupiter, grew our flower, as pleasant food for it, which received the name of the flower of Jupiter from the Greeks and symbolically depicted the blushing and pale maiden modesty.
In the Middle Ages, these flowers begin to play a role in the Christian world and are called flower of St. Trinity.
According to Clusius, medieval Christians saw a triangle in the dark spot in the middle of the flower and compared it with the all-seeing eye, and in the stains surrounding it - the radiance coming from it. The triangle depicted, in their opinion, the three faces of St. Trinity, originating from the all-seeing eye - God the Father.
In general, this flower was surrounded by mystery in the Middle Ages, and in one of the Trappist monasteries one could see on the wall a huge image of it with a death’s head in the center and the inscription: “memento mori” (remember death). Perhaps that is why white pansies are considered a symbol of death in Northern France; they are never given to anyone or made into bouquets.
On the other hand, they served as a symbol of fidelity for lovers, and it was customary to give each other their portraits, placed in an enlarged image of this flower.
He uses the same meaning in Poland, where they call him “brothers” and give it as a keepsake only as a sign of great affection. A young girl gives such a flower as a souvenir only to her fiance.
Since ancient times, pansies have also been attributed the property of bewitching love.
To do this, the person they wanted to bewitch only had to sprinkle the juice of these flowers on their eyelids during sleep and then come and stand in front of him just as he wakes up.
Modern French peasant girls, in order to attract someone’s love and find out where their betrothed lives, twirl the flower by the peduncle, saying: “Think carefully: in the direction where you stop, my betrothed will also be.”
Since the 16th century pansies receive the common name pensée - thought, thought, but where it came from and for what reason it was given is unknown.
The German botanist Stern suggests that it occurs because the seed pod of that flower is somewhat like a skull - the place where the brain and thoughts are housed.
These flowers are sent to England lovers on Valentine's Day(February 14th), when all the feelings hidden for a whole year get the right to pour out on paper. On this day, as they say, more letters with declarations of love are written here than in the entire globe.
That's why, in addition to the name pansy, corresponding French word pensée, it is also called in England “Hearts ease” - “heartfelt calm”, “heartfelt joy”, since indeed, expressing without words the desire and thought of the one who sends it, it serves as a calmer for his feelings.
However, everything that we have said so far concerns not those velvety wonderful Pansies that we meet in our gardens, but their modest yellow and purple wild ancestors.
In the 30s of the 19th century, ordinary pansies began to be crossed partly with the European large-flowered yellow violet (Viola lutea), and partly with the Altai violet, and thus obtained a mass (Darwin in 1830 numbered more than 400 of them) varieties, among them those velvety, satiny flowers that adorn our gardens.
Particularly beautiful flowers were bred in England: completely black, called Faust, light blue - Margarita and wine-red - Mephistopheles. Now all the attention of gardeners is turned to obtaining double and strongly fragrant flowers, since the only thing this lovely flower lacks is smell.
Pansy (viola tricolor) - one to two year old herbaceous plant from the violet family, reaching a height of 15-20 cm. The stems are thin, hollow, erect, covered with short hairs, ending in single flowers. Leaves are alternate, petiolate, round-heart-shaped or oblong-elliptic, hairy. The lower leaves are heart-ovate, and the upper ones are oblong-elliptic. The flowers are solitary, on long stalks, violet-blue, with different shades. Typically the top two petals are purple, the two side petals are light purple, and the bottom petal is yellow or white. Blooms from April to late autumn. The fruits ripen in June. The seeds are small, obovate, smooth. The fruit is a capsule, cracking with three leaves, from which the seeds scatter.
Tricolor violet grows almost everywhere in the European part of Russia, in Western and Eastern Siberia. Settles in dry meadows, clearings, forest edges, gardens, and vegetable gardens. As a weed, violet often settles in arable lands.
The medicinal raw material is the aerial part of the plant, grass. It is harvested during flowering, in May - July. The cut grass is dried in the shade, laid out thin layer on a wooden bed and stirring frequently. Dried herbs are stored in a wooden or glass containers no more than one and a half years.
For a long time, many countries have been trying to cultivate pansies for medicinal purposes. Only field pansies with small flowers, the petals of which are light yellow and whitish in color, are grown. The soil for sowing seeds should be good, but not greasy. Seeds are sown in March - April in rows, watered abundantly until shoots emerge and the rows are loosened several times. Sometimes seeds are sown in summer, and seedlings are transplanted in September and in May next year The harvest is already being harvested. Several crops are harvested over the summer.
Where the Russian name for this plant - “pansies” - came from is not known for certain. True, some cultivated varieties of pansies with large flowers really look like the blue eyes of a girl, but the one that interests us is simple, modest wild flower, looks a little like girlish eyes. But, nevertheless, this plant is more often called pansies rather than “tricolor violet”. The Germans call this plant stepmother, explaining this name as follows. The bottom, largest and most beautiful petal is a dressed up stepmother. The two higher, no less beautifully colored petals are her no less beautifully dressed daughters. And the two uppermost white petals, as if faded, with a lilac tint to the petals, are her poorly dressed stepdaughters. Tradition says that before the stepmother was at the top, and the poor stepdaughters at the bottom, but God took pity on the poor, downtrodden and abandoned girls and turned the flower, while the evil stepmother was given the spur that bothered her, and her own daughters were given the mustache they hated.
Some have seen in a flower woman's face expressing curiosity. They say that this face belongs to a woman who was turned into this flower because, out of curiosity, she looked where she was forbidden to look.
As if to confirm this, they tell another legend about the appearance of pansies on earth. One day, this legend says, the goddess Venus decided to bathe in a remote grotto, where no human eye could penetrate. The goddess was calmly bathing, but suddenly she heard a rustling sound and saw mortals looking at her. Having become indescribably angry, Venus turned to Zeus with a request to punish the daring. Zeus, of course, responded to the request of the beautiful goddess and decided to punish them, but then softened and turned them into pansies, expressing curiosity and surprise.
The Greeks call this flower the flower of Jupiter, and they have a legend about its origin. One day, bored with sitting on his throne of clouds, the Thunderer decided, for the sake of variety, to descend to earth. In order not to be recognized, he took on the appearance of a shepherd and took with him a lovely white lamb, which he led on a string. Having reached the Argive fields, Jupiter saw a mass of people rushing to the Temple of Juno and mechanically followed the people. At this time, the famous Greek beauty Io, the daughter of King Inoch, was making sacrifices. Fascinated by her extraordinary beauty, Jupiter forgot about his divine origin and, laying the lovely lamb he had brought with him at her feet, revealed his love to her.
Proud, unapproachable, refusing the advances of all earthly kings, Io could not resist the spell of the Thunderer and became carried away by him. Lovers usually met only in the silence of the night and in the strictest secrecy, but jealous Juno soon found out about this connection, and Jupiter, in order to save poor Io from the wrath of his wife, was forced to turn his beloved into a wonderful, snow-white cow.
But this transformation became the greatest misfortune for the girl. Having learned about such a terrible transformation, she began to sob bitterly, and her plaintive cry resounded like a cow’s roar. She wanted to raise her hands to the sky to beg the immortals to return her to her former image, but the hands that had turned into legs did not obey her. She wandered sadly among her sisters, and no one recognized her. True, her father at times caressed her like a beautiful animal, giving her juicy leaves that he plucked from a nearby bush, but in vain she licked his hands with gratitude, in vain shed tears - her father also did not recognize her.
Finally, a happy thought occurred to her: she decided to write about her misfortune. And then one day, when her father was feeding her, she began to draw letters in the sand with her feet. These strange movements attracted his attention, he began to peer at the signs in the sand and, to his horror, recognized the unfortunate fate of his beautiful daughter, whom he had long considered dead.
“Oh, I’m miserable! - he exclaimed, hugging the cow's face. - This is the terrible form in which I found you, my dear, priceless child, you whom I had been looking for for so long and in vain. Looking for you everywhere, I suffered greatly, but having found you, I suffer ten times more! Poor, poor child, you can’t even utter at least one word of consolation to me - instead of words, only wild sounds come out of your painful soul!”
The unfortunate daughter and father were inconsolable. And then, in order to at least somewhat soften the terrible fate of Io, by order of Jupiter, the earth grew pleasant food for the unfortunate woman - the tricolor violet flower, which the Greeks called the “flower of Jupiter.” The flower symbolically depicted blushing and pale girlish shyness.
In the middle of the century, the flower begins to play a role in the Christian world and receives the name St. Flower. Trinity. Medieval Christians saw a triangle in the dark spot in the middle of the flower and compared it with the all-seeing eye, and in the stains surrounding it - the radiance coming from it. The triangle, in their opinion, depicts the three faces of St. Trinity, originating from the all-seeing eye - God the Father.
It should be noted that in the Middle Ages this flower was surrounded by mystery and in one of the Trappist monasteries one could see on the wall a huge image of it with a death’s head in the center and the inscription: “Remember death.”
In the north of France, white pansies were considered a symbol of death; they were never given to anyone or made into bouquets.
But in the same Middle Ages, in some places pansies served as a symbol of fidelity for lovers, and it was customary to give each other their portraits, placed in an enlarged image of this flower.
In Poland this flower is called “brothers”; the Poles love it and give it as a souvenir only as a sign of great affection. A young girl gives such a flower as a souvenir only to her fiance. By the way, pansies have been credited with the ability to bewitch love since ancient times. To do this, the person they wanted to bewitch had to sprinkle the juice of these flowers on their eyelids during sleep, and then come and stand in front of him just as he woke up.
Pansies enjoy great love and popularity in Persia, where there are even more varieties for this flower. sweet words than for a rose.
In England, pansies are sent to lovers on Valentine's Day (February 14), when all the feelings hidden during the year receive the right to pour out on paper and are sent to the address of those intended. They say that on this day in England more letters with declarations of love are written than in the entire globe. Sometimes a dried pansy flower is sent in an envelope instead of a letter. And everything is clear to the recipient - this is a declaration of love.
Thus, this flower plays the role of an intermediary, expressing without words the thought and desire of the one who sent it. In England, this flower is also called “heart calm.”
First attempts at making pansies garden flowers date back to the beginning of the 16th century. At that time, pansies began to be grown from seeds in the gardens of Prince William of Hesse-Kassel, and in the 17th century, Vandergren, the gardener of the Prince of Orleans, began to grow pansies in the garden. He managed to breed five varieties of pansies.
This flower owes its even greater improvement to the daughter of the English Earl of Tankerville, Mary Benet, who, having made this flower her favorite, planted it in the entire garden and the entire terrace of her castle. Her gardener collected the seeds of the largest and most beautiful flowers and sowed them. Through natural cross-pollination, more and more new varieties appeared in the countess's garden, among which were wonderful varieties, which attracted the attention of lovers and made pansies one of the most favorite flowers.
Selection of more and more new varieties of pansies in different countries Europe led to the fact that in 1830 Darwin already counted 400 varieties of them, among which there were already velvety, satiny flowers that now decorate our gardens.
The chemical composition of tricolor violet herb is quite rich in biologically active substances. The herb contains flavone glycoside, violaquercetin and anthocyanin glycosides (delphinidin, peonidin, violanine), a small amount essential oil, carotene, violaxanthin, alkaloid violaemetine, saponins, tannins, mucous polysaccharides, phenolcarboxylic acids, coumarins, tannins, up to 300 mg% vitamin C.
Tricolor violet preparations have an expectorant, diuretic, diaphoretic, and laxative effect. The anti-inflammatory properties of the plant are associated with the presence in its herb of pharmacologically active essential oil and mucus-like substances that have an antiseptic effect in the gastrointestinal tract, enhance the secretion of the bronchial glands and facilitate the removal of sputum. The saponins contained in the plant determine its expectorant and diuretic properties. Preparations from tricolor violet also have antimicrobial, enveloping, sedative and emetic (in large doses) effects. In particular, the herb infusion has a detrimental effect on protozoa and is a good expectorant for acute respiratory diseases, inflammation of the trachea, bronchi, lungs and urinary tract, as well as for urolithiasis. Great content Vitamin C and carotenoids in the herb make violet infusion useful for atherosclerosis, heart attacks, joint inflammation and rickets in children.
Preparations of pansies are used independently, in the form of infusions and decoctions, as well as in mixtures with other medicinal plants(in fees). Basically, violet preparations are prescribed as an expectorant and cough softener for acute respiratory diseases, chronic bronchitis and bronchopneumonia, and whooping cough. Violet preparations soften inflammatory deposits on the bronchi, facilitate the separation of sputum, increase the motor activity of the ciliated epithelium of the mucous membranes of the lungs, which promotes faster evacuation of sputum and therefore calms cough.
Violet preparations are also prescribed for inflammatory diseases of the kidneys and urinary tract, for urolithiasis, uric acid diathesis and for some other urological diseases. Preparations from the herb of the plant are used for allergic dermatitis, exudative diathesis, and eczema. For these diseases, herbal preparations are used topically in the form of lotions and for preparing baths.
Our ancestors loved violet tea: the dried herb was brewed as tea and drunk for scrofula and other rashes. Pansies were believed to be blood purifiers. An infusion of the herb was used in the treatment of milk rash, for which 1 teaspoon of the herb was infused in a glass of water. The herb was poured into water overnight, and the next morning the infusion was boiled and given to drink on an empty stomach mixed with sweetened milk.
In one of the ancient herbal books we read:
- a violet leaf, crushed and taken internally, will eliminate any swelling that occurs in the stoma (stomach) and which is born from excess heat;
- the root of that herb, boiled in wine and crushed and applied to the swelling of the spleen, will eliminate the swelling and draw out excess moisture from the spleen;
- whoever smells the color white violet will go away from headaches and get a restful sleep;
- a violet-colored spirit with violet grass applied to the head of a drunken person will sober him up;
- hops, like headaches, purple violet drives away;
- She relieves heaviness and heals the sick who fall.
Infusion: 1 tbsp. a spoonful of raw materials is poured with 1 cup of boiling water, kept in a water bath for 15 minutes, cooled at room temperature for 45 minutes, filtered, and the herb is squeezed out. Take 1/3 cup 3-4 times a day after meals. With prolonged use of high doses, nausea and even vomiting may occur.
Herbal tea: the herb is brewed with boiling water in a ratio of 1:10, heated in a water bath, without bringing to a boil, for 5 minutes, left for 15 minutes, filtered and taken 1 tbsp. spoon several times a day.
Externally, for compresses and baths, violet infusion is combined with oral administration for various skin diseases.