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Wild Pansy

Wild Pansy

Viola tricolor

Identify the Wild Pansy from a photo and log your finds with Florapass.

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How common: Very common

Wild Pansy is a small, one- or two-year plant with cheerful, face-like flowers that are often purple/blue, yellow and white. It grows in open, sunny places and is often seen on dry grassland, rocks, field edges, roadsides and in disturbed ground.

Did you know?

  • The flower often shows all three colours at once, which inspired its Latin name “tricolor”.
  • In many European languages it’s nicknamed “stepmother,” and it has been used as a symbol of the Holy Trinity.

About the species

Identification

Small one- or two-year plant, usually 8–25 cm tall, with slender, branching stems. Leaves are oval with tiny teeth; at the base of each leaf there are extra leafy flaps that are deeply cut. Flowers 1–2.5 cm across, usually three‑coloured: purple/blue, yellow and white; the lowest petal is the largest and has a tiny pouch at the back. After flowering it makes a dry pod that splits to release seeds. To tell it from Field Pansy, check that the coloured petals are longer than the green outer parts behind the flower; Field Pansy’s are shorter and the flower is usually paler. Garden pansies are much larger. Flowers in Finland from May to September.

Plant group

Herbaceous plants

Habitat

rock

Flowering

May–Sep

About the habitat

Open, sunny and rather dry places such as meadows, rocky outcrops, roadsides, field margins, fallows and light garden soil. Common in southern and central Finland.

Sources

Photo: Krzysztof Ziarnek, Kenraiz, CC BY-SA 3.0 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Viola tricolor maritima kz3.jpg

Text: Pinkka: BIO-503 Suomen kasvisto ja kasvillisuus - Itämeri: rantapensaikot, CC BY 4.0 https://laji.fi/taxon/MX.38336

Text: Pinkka: IPS-153 Flora of Subarctic Europe - Tanacetum-Viscaria, CC BY 4.0 https://laji.fi/taxon/MX.38336

Text: Pinkka (Luomus), CC BY 4.0 https://laji.fi/taxon/MX.38336

Text: Wikipedia (Finnish), CC BY-SA 4.0 https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keto-orvokki

See also