Violet's Bounce-Back

Here’s a photo of a little botanical oddity: humble, sweet and ubiquitous Violet. You may know its leaves for their demulcent, moistening and nutritive qualities and their ability to soften and hydrate. But did you know that Violet, and all plants in the Viola genus, have a wild way of reproducing themselves?

Violets make two sets of flowers: one set that is above ground—those purple beauties we see in early spring—and another set that grow entirely underground, and are jointly responsible for the plant’s reproduction. The latter, which tend to form and spin their magic in summer and fall, make Violet a cleistogamous plant.

Most flowers reproduce via chasmogamous, above-ground flowers—the typical open flowers you see that require pollination by insects, birds, beetles and other creatures. Cleistogamous flowers are closed, self-pollinate and are often produced underground. Viola is the largest genus of cleistogamous plants in the world.

Cleistogamous comes from the Greek root kleistos, meaning ‘closed’ + -gamy from gamos, meaning ‘marriage.’ Apparently cleistogamous reproduction is a more successful reproductive strategy than chasmogamous reproduction. It’s a wonder we don’t encounter it more often.

I first learned about Violet’s cleistogamy a couple of years ago, but this year was my first witnessing their evolutionary remix first-hand, through careful observation of the entire life cycle of the plant in the gardens I maintain at my day job. The number of cleistogamous versus chasmogamous buds the Violet plant produces depends on climactic clues: based on whichever strategy will be most successful, Violet sends out more above ground flowers or more of its underground flowers.

I can’t help but think of Violet’s decision to make two types of flowers as some kind of evolutionary double-dip: having their cake and eating it too. Entice a bee here and a wasp there, but gather their strength underground and out of sight for the real shower of seeds come fall.

It would not be difficult to draw a metaphor or three from Violet’s way of being. Do what you can, when you can; fall down 9 times, get up the 10th; took an L today? bounce back tomorrow. Rounding out a year that has taken so much from us collectively, and knee-capped some wonderful visions I’d set down in my personal life, right now I’m taking stock, reading Black speculative fiction and staying TF at home (an underground of sorts). The time will come to release the seeds I’ve been forming out into the world. That time just isn’t now.

If you are reading this, please continue to wear a mask and eat dinner with folks you live/ pod with this Thursday. Let’s remain committed to limiting the impact of this virus, especially on those who continue to bear the brunt of it. Violet flowers are one of the first to appear in spring. Let’s hold fast, so that we can celebrate their appearance together come winter’s end.