Kids Pick State Flower
The Great Outdoors | May 1, 2018
By Jackie Scharfenberg, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources
Wisconsin State Flower
In 1908, the school children of Wisconsin took a vote to determine the state flower of Wisconsin. That contest narrowed the choices down to four finalists: the trailing arbutus, the wood violet, the white water lily, and the wild rose. The school children voted again, this time on one of the four finalists, and the officials announced the wood violet (Viola papilionacea) as the winner on Arbor Day 1909. It took until June 4, 1949 for it to become the official Wisconsin state flower. Three other states, Illinois, New Jersey, and Rhode Island, also selected the wood violet as their official state flower.
The Wood Violet
Throughout most of eastern North America, the wood violet, or common blue violet, grows in a wide range of habitats from rich woods to meadows and lawns. Each spring it sends up its heart-shaped, toothed leaves and purple flowers from underground horizontal roots called rhizomes. The plants grow about four inches high and about six inches wide.
The violets bloom in mid to late spring for longer than a month. Most of the flowers are purple/blue with white centers, but they can also be white with blue centers. Smell a violet flower and you will notice no scent.
A Food Source
Wood violets provide food for many different animals including wild turkeys, rabbits, deer, livestock, mourning doves, bobwhite quail, and white-footed mice. Many different fritillary butterfly caterpillars feed only on violet leaves, like monarch butterfly caterpillars munching only milkweeds.
Humans eat the flowers and young leaves in salads, or cook the leaves like spinach. They candy the flowers or make them into a jelly. The leaves contain high amounts of vitamin A and three-times the amount of vitamin C than an orange.
Pollination
The flowers possess five petals: two upper, two sides, and one bottom. Hairs grow on the side two petals which keep rain and water drops from diluting the nectar. These hairs also provide something for pollinating insects to grab onto. The bottom petal provides a landing pad for visiting insects and veins as “honey guides” to the center of the flower.
Since violets bloom in spring, only a few insects come to pollinate the flowers. To hedge their bet for survival, violets produce petal-less, closed flowers that self-pollinate in the summer time. Look under the leaves to find these unique flowers. When the seeds ripen, they are ejected like rockets from a three-parted seed capsule.
Here’s a neat trick! The seeds are covered with protuberances, growths, containing oils and possibly sugars that attract ants. The ants take the seeds back to their tunnels where they eat the growths, but not the seed itself. This gives the seeds a great chance to sprout, because of the nutrients provided by the soil and the housekeeping of the ants. They also receive protection from foraging birds and rodents.
This spring, venture out to the edge of a woods to search for our state flower, the wood violet. Remember to look down low for this common perennial favorite!
