Violets mean spring, at least for plants. Your garden will likely be full of spots of purple. Color courtesy of the common blue violet (Sororia Viola). It is a strong native capable of surviving in grass deserts.
The common blue violet is not it Just Violet is there, although others require more research. Take or give, there are about 26 local species in the genus viola in Ohio. Give, mostly: taxonomists have proposed a number of “new” species, carved out of established ones. But skeptics remained, and not all of the new divisions gained widespread acceptance.
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Simple vegetarians may want to group them all into three types: the purple, white, and yellow types.
On a trip to southern Ohio on April 22 (Earth Day), I encountered a growing population of our rarest violets. Walter Violet (Viola Walter) as threatened by the state, and is currently known only from Adams and Highland counties. These are the inhabitants of the far north in its range.
Walter Violet is also the smallest of our violets. The leaves are the size of your pinky nails, and the entire plant can comfortably fit on a half dollar coin. It requires a ground level check to really appreciate it.
The scientific name Viola Walter He gets acquainted with botanist Thomas Walter, a complex and productive character. Walter was born in Hampshire, England in 1740, and came to America in the late 1860s. He settled in Charleston, South Carolina, and wasted no time in making his mark.
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At the time, the flora and fauna of the eastern United States was not fully known, and there was plenty to be found. Walter discovered a number of new plants, eight of which are named in his honor.
In 1788, Walter published the results of his work in a book called “Flora Caroliniana,” an important landmark in early North American botany. He died the following year at the age of 48.
Between his work in botany, Walter was married three times, had five children, was a successful merchant, acquired 4,500 acres of land, and held political office.
Including Walter’s violet, seven species of violets are listed as endangered by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources. Unlike the blue violets common in your yard, most violets are strictly specialized. Habitat loss is a major cause of their scarcity.
Franklin County provides an ideal habitat for Walter violets: thin soils over limestone in open woodlands or glass panels. Suitable conditions previously occurred along the Scioto River, especially in the Dublin region. And that’s where Walter’s only Violet County record comes from. A specimen was collected near Hayden Falls on May 6, 1916 by botanist F.E. Leonard. This was the northernmost location ever recorded.
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The large-scale changes in the intervening century have not been kind to the preservation of the plant along Scioto. The evolution and spread of invasive plants has greatly affected the local plant communities. It was possible that the Violet Genie Walter did not survive the attack.
However, they often remain a glimmer of hope in the case of long-lost plants. And many other rare plants cling tightly to Dublin’s rocky shelters. Perhaps Walter’s little violets will be rediscovered in Franklin County one day.
Naturalist Jim McCormack writes a column in The Dispatch on the first, third, and fifth Sundays of the month. He also writes about nature at www.jimmccormac.blogspot.com.