Mountain Pansies – 30th June 2008
Mountain pansies have large, striking and very vivacious blossoms about an inch across that grow on slender stems that seem to rise straight from grassland. The leaves are oval, low down on the stem, narrower further up and do not form a rosette at the base. The creeping underground roots send up flowering stems at intervals. The flowering stems bearing usually one but sometimes four blossoms are unbranched. Late in the year the fruit capsule, about three quarters of an inch across, splits into three parts each releasing the tiny ripe seeds. Whilst the colour of the blossoms varies in any one area in general the yellow type is found in Derbyshire and Yorkshire whilst the purple type, arguably the more attractive, grows in upper Teesdale and Scotland, including the Highlands. Around Inverness mountain pansies grow on grassy areas and rock ledges plus damp meadows and sometimes shingle. They have been recorded in a few places on the roadsides at Garve but by far the best place to see them in all their glory is the grasslands and hillsides either side of the upper parts of the River Findhorn. Elsewhere in the Highlands there are only three scattered sites and a small number of old records where the plants have not been seen since before the 1970s. This could be because of afforestation with the inevitable conifer plantations. On the side of Strathnairn along the River Findhorn there are sometimes hundreds of the flat faced flowers in quite small areas of grassland and the main type is a beautiful purple colour with contrasting yellow streaks with dark lines on the lower broad petal. There are other colour types there and some may be yellow, blue violet or red violet or any combinations of these colours. Despite their vivid colour the plants can be difficult to see unless the vegetation is close cropped by deer, cattle or sheep.
Such attractive large flowers have always attracted gardeners and at one time garden pansies were forms of another wild pansy whose Latin name is Viola tricolor. More recently today’s garden pansies were derived from crosses between the wild and the mountain pansies plus probably a third pansy from abroad whose origin seems to have been a mystery. For some reason the true mountain pansy has always been difficult to cultivate in gardens , a fact mentioned by gardeners as long ago as the 16th century. Mountain pansies are members of the violet family all of which, to varying degrees, are used as the food plants of some of the most attractive and threatened family of butterflies, the fritillaries. One of the largest of this family is the dark green fritillary which is found along the Findhorn valley as is the much smaller but equally attractive small pearl bordered fritillary. The former’s flying period is into September whilst the latter’s generally ends in August although with the weather this year both may be extended for a few weeks. Both these fritillaries have declined markedly down south but in the Highlands they are still widespread although in some areas there has been a decline through the change of countryside management. As for the future of the mountain pansy in conservation terms it could well be that its range and numbers may have stabilised and if the current overgrazing and over burning in some area are changed, as seems likely with current thinking, then the plant could return to its former range. Grazing of the areas supporting large numbers of these plants is critical with cattle being the most advantageous.
Such attractive large flowers have always attracted gardeners and at one time garden pansies were forms of another wild pansy whose Latin name is Viola tricolor. More recently today’s garden pansies were derived from crosses between the wild and the mountain pansies plus probably a third pansy from abroad whose origin seems to have been a mystery. For some reason the true mountain pansy has always been difficult to cultivate in gardens , a fact mentioned by gardeners as long ago as the 16th century. Mountain pansies are members of the violet family all of which, to varying degrees, are used as the food plants of some of the most attractive and threatened family of butterflies, the fritillaries. One of the largest of this family is the dark green fritillary which is found along the Findhorn valley as is the much smaller but equally attractive small pearl bordered fritillary. The former’s flying period is into September whilst the latter’s generally ends in August although with the weather this year both may be extended for a few weeks. Both these fritillaries have declined markedly down south but in the Highlands they are still widespread although in some areas there has been a decline through the change of countryside management. As for the future of the mountain pansy in conservation terms it could well be that its range and numbers may have stabilised and if the current overgrazing and over burning in some area are changed, as seems likely with current thinking, then the plant could return to its former range. Grazing of the areas supporting large numbers of these plants is critical with cattle being the most advantageous.
