Back from a four-year long hiatus to revive this site on lithophytes, and what better time to do it in spring? Today I am featuring a common wayside lithophyte that blooms beautifully in purple… Viola! No, not the musical instrument that looks like a violin, it is the genus of a flowering species. This genus includes the pansies!
There is something about purple and green that pleases the eyes. Credit
Recently, the number of Viola sprouting along roadsides in places like Japan has been increasing. While some may be escape cultivars, I believe other populations have adapted from the rocky mountainside to the concrete or tarmac surfaces in urban areas.
There are several species and cultivars of Viola. One of the most commonly seen wayside species is Viola mandshurica, of which the common name are 东北堇菜 in Chinese, 제비꽃 in Korean and スミレ（菫）in Japanese. It is a popular garden plant and therefore a likely escapee to roadsides. The plant grows in the wild where there is semi-shade and moist humus-enriched soil. The crevices along roads allow nutrients from rainwater to accumulate and provide a suitable micro-environment for these hardy species to thrive.
Like many other species, V. mandshurica do not have true stems, meaning each of their lanceolate leaves and flowers (on stalks) emerge directly from their underground rhizomes (modified stems). The roots that are produces from the rhizomes are short and thick, allowing them to anchor in little cracks by the road.
Hwajeon or Flower Pancakes. Credit
The Koreans use Viola flowers among others to make Flower Pancakes or 화전 (花煎) which are eaten during the Samjinnal festival in spring.
Yet another lithophytic species is the Viola odorata, which has leaves that are arranged in a basal rosette. There are light purple varieties (above), as well as white ones called Viola odorata ‘Alba’ (below).
Because Viola tends to spread quickly by rhizomes and is a perennial plant, sometimes it is considered invasive by gardeners, in spite of its beauty. Would you consider this species a weed to our urban landscape? I think it adds colours to our mundane grey roads, but if its prevalence becomes uncontrolled, maybe it will be time to make more Flower Pancakes.
Lithophytes: Singapore & Beyond 
