Viola odorata L. var. pallido-plena Sw.

Horticultural & Botanical History

The Floricultural Cabinet provides detailed cultural notes for the Neapolitan violet.  ‘I believe this is the first-rate flower if Violets in cultivation, but it requires winter protection.  About the end of April take the old roots and part them, plant them out in beds on a north or north-east border, there to remain till the end of September, then take them up and pot them in thirty-two sized pots, in a mixture of vegetable mould, road scrapings, and loam: if not sufficiently gritty, add a little coarse river sand.  Place a tile in the bottom of each pot, likewise a handful of potsherds, broken very small.  Water them, and plunge them in a frame in cinder ashes, elevating them to within a few inches of the glass; draw off the lights in all fine dry weather, protecting them from all rain and damp.  By the above treatment, they will flower profusely the whole of the winter; they will also flower in a greenhouse, provided they are placed in a dry airy situation: a double flower, light blue, sweet-scented.’  [FC p.194/1835].  Neapolitan violets were grown in pots to maximise flower size for cutting.  ‘They are handy in pots for supplying the drawing room all through the winter.  A few pots, nicely massed and supplied weekly, have a charming appearance.  I have seen from 50-100 expanded flowers on a plant.’  Mr. Cox.  [Gard. Chron. 1848].

Three forms of Viola odorata flore pleno, including the Neapolitan violet, are illustrated in Phytanthoza Iconographia [vol.4, no.1011/1745]. The Neapolitan violet is the pale blue double flower at bottom centre of the illustration.

History at Camden Park

Listed in the 1845, 1850 and 1857 catalogues [H.235/1845].  In a note accompanying a plant order to Mr. Woores, 1st July, 1844, Macarthur describes the Neopolitan violet as double [MP A2933-1, p.42], consistent with Sweet’s description.

Notes