and Pets - Compiled by Damayanthi Hewamanna and its many uses

iola is a type of flowering in oles. The flowers have 5 cultivars and hybrids have whose common hybrid strains have Vthe violet family sepals that are persistent been bred in a greater spec- name includes the word been developed which pro- , with around after blooming, and in some trum of colors. Flowering is “violet”. duce compact plants of rea- 400 to 500 species dis- species the sepals enlarge often profuse, and may last Common blue violet Viola sonably consistent tributed around the after blooming. The flowers for much of the spring and sororia is the state flower of coloring and appearance. world. Most species have five free stamens with summer. Wisconsin, Rhode Island, Bedding plants are usually which are commonly short filaments that are One quirk of some viola is Illinois, and New Jersey. discarded after one growing called violets, pansies or season. heartsease are found in On the other hand, there the temperate Northern are hundreds of perennial Hemisphere, and also viola and violetta cultivars found widely in divergent which often do not “come areas such as Hawaii, true” from seed. Those that Australasia and the do not come true from seed Andes in South America. are propagated from cut- Crystals Apricot Most Viola species are tings. small perennial plants, some Cultivars of Viola cornu- are annual plants and a few ta, Viola cucullata, Viola are small shrubs. odorata, are commonly A number of species are grown from seed. Other grown for their ornamental species often grown include flowers in borders and rock Viola labradorica, Viola. gardens. The garden pansy Newly opened Viola flow- in particular is most often ers may be used to decorate used in the spring and salads or in stuffing for autumn/winter bedding and poultry or fish. Soufflés, pot . Viola and violetta cream and similar desserts are terms used by gardeners can be flavored with essence and generally in horticulture of Viola flowers. The young for neat, small-flowered are edible raw or hybrid plants intermediate in cooked as a somewhat bland size between pansies and vegetable. violets. Decoration Features A candied violet or crys- Viola species typically Blue Violets tallized violet is a flower, have heart-shaped, scal- usually of Viola odorata, loped leaves, though a num- preserved by a coating of ber have palmate leaves or oppressed against the ovary, the elusive scent of their is home to a num- egg white and crystallized other shapes. The vast only the lower two stamens flowers along with terpenes, ber of Viola species, includ- sugar. Alternately, hot syrup majority of Viola species are have nectary spurs that are a major component of the ing Viola hederacea, Viola is poured over the fresh herbaceous, and a certain inserted on the lowest petal scent is a ketone compound betonicifolia and Viola flower and stirred until the number of them are acaules- into the spur or a pouch. The called ionone, which tem- banksii, first collected by sugar re-crystallizes and has Violasoralba cent in habit, as in they lack flower styles are thickened porarily desensitizes the Joseph Banks and Daniel dried. any noticeable stems and the near the top and the stigmas receptors of the nose, thus Solander on the Cook voy- This method is still used foliage and flowers appear are head-like, narrowed or age to Botany Bay. The for rose petals and was to rise from the ground. often beaked. The flowers Violets are also Viola comes in handy for applied to orange flowers in The remaining ones have have a superior ovary with used for Medicinal many purposes and mostly the past. Candied violets are short stems with foliage and one cell, which has three for the ones mentioned still made commercially at flowers are produced in the placentae containing many purposes. below. Toulouse, France, where axils of the leaves. The ovules. The flowers, leaves The modern garden pansy they are known as violettes acaulescent species produce After flowering, fruit cap- and roots of various V. wittrockiana is a plant of de Toulouse. They are used basal rosettes. Plants always sules produced are split are rich in vitamins complex hybrid origin as decorating or included in have leaves with stipules open by way of three valves. involving at least three aromatic desserts. that are often leaf-like. Many species also produce A and C. The Viola species, V. tricolor (wild The French are also The flowers of the vast self-pollinated cleistoga- odorata is used pansy or heartsease), V. known for their violet syrup, majority are zygomorphic mous flowers in summer as a source altaica and V. lutea (moun- most commonly made from with bilateral symmetry. The and autumn that do not open for scents tain pansy). an extract of violets. In the flowers are formed from and lack petals. The plants known to gar- United States, this French five petals, four are up The nut like have in the perfume deners as “violas” are com- violet syrup is used to make swept or fan-shaped petals straight embryos, flat industry. mon bedding and pot plants violet scones. Viola essence with two per side, and there cotyledons, and soft fleshy world wide. flavors the liqueurs Crème is one broad, lobed lower endosperm that is oily. The preventing any further scent In 2005 in the United Yvette, Crème de Violette, petal pointing downward. seeds are often spread by being detected from the States, violas including the and Parfait d’Amour. It is The shape of the petals ants. flower until the nerves pansies were one of the top also used in Parma Violets and placement defines many The color of the flowers recover. three bedding plant crops confectionery. species, for example, some vary in the genus ranging The genus includes dog and 111 million dollars Violets are also used for Viola species have a “spur” from violet, as their com- violets, a group of scentless worth of flats of violas were Medicinal purposes. The on the end of each petal mon name suggests, through species which are the most produced for the bedding flowers, leaves and roots of while most have a spur on shades of blue, yellow, common viola in many flower market. various are rich in vitamins the lower petal. white, and cream, whilst areas, sweet violet Viola Pansies and violas used A and C. Solitary flowers end long some types are bi-colored, odorata thats named from its for bedding are generally They also contain a type stalks with a pair of bracte- often blue and yellow. Many sweet scent, and many other raised from seed, and F1 of antioxidant called an Yellow Violet The funny side... Where nature went wrong

This unusual six-legged Cambodian cow was found resting at the farm near to the Dendrobium Iranganie Serasinghe Cambodia city, Phnom Penh on October 7, 2003.The monks from the local pagoda This was Gemina, a giraffe which was who scared of getting bad fortune that found to have a dominant crooked neck would bring by the cow, later named it as joining to its body at the Santa Barbara Orchid to be named ‘Cham Leck,’ literally means ‘strange’. Zoo. Unfortunately, it died on January 9, after Iranganie 2008.

A flower exhibition to felici- being held at Viharama- variety named after Dendrobi- tate veteran film artiste hadevi park. um Iranganie Serasinghe was Iranganie Serasinghe is A special hybrid orchid presented to her yesterday. Give Browny a home ccording to the lat- Browny is the very recent and now is leading a healthy est counts, Sri dog that Embark rescued life. It is longing for a home, A Lanka is home to and are now calling out for so if there is anyone out three million dogs of someone who will be able to there please take him in so This seven-legged lamb was pho- which more than 600,000 give a good kind home to that he wont have to live the tographed when it was found on July 31, 2007, at the farm at Methven near to are living in the streets. him. Browny was treated by cruel street life again. Call This tortoise was seen on June 24, 2007, Christ Church which is situated in the This is still on the rise Embark for various condi- Ishan on 0777 696700 for in Huaibei which is located in the eastern part of Anhui Province of China.The local South Island of New Zealand. The veteri- even now due to the irre- tions it was going through more information. narian, Steve Williams believed that this sponsible owners. media reported that its gourd shaped resembling a large fruit with a hard skin deformity was caused by a misprint in Embark recently lent a and soft juicy flesh inside was the result embryo formation. Due to this scientific helping paw to a helpless of a gene mutation. That means the gene reason, the lamb was being born poly- injured stray dog that lived mutation has contributed to its aberra- dactyl (or with many legs). He further near the Kotte bridge. When tion, a condition of a temporary change remarked that this is a common condition the team had brought it in from what is normal or acceptable among that may have occurred once in every for treatment, it had no fur its species. several million sheep on its body but now after all the treatments being given you can see this guy all Scientists have long found the double- When Browny was brought After Browny was treated headed fossil. From the laboratory sam- furred up. in by the Embark team ple, this aquatic reptile was identified died at its very young age before forming into a fossil. This extinct adult reptile was Please send us your rescue stories and animal jokes to diagnosed to grow as long as one meter. [email protected] or to ‘Flowers n Pets’, Its relatively long neck marked its unusu- No. 35, D.R.Wijewardene Mawatha, Colombo 10 al feature among its species. =