# Botanists: ID this flower? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 14, 2010, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/botanists-id-this-flower/553763 "2010-09-14T19:50:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2010, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/botanists-id-this-flower/553763/1 "2010-09-14T19:50:09Z")
I saw the strangest flowers in a window box outside a tavern earlier this summer. They look like little monster faces, and all are perfectly upright. I can’t decide if this is some bizarre, but real, flower, of if someone painted them this way. [Monster Face Flowers](http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/RGuKIcZqHluFgHJ4c1aORQ?feat=directlink) Any thoughts? ---
**Author:** ![hellpaso](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ecae2f/32.png) [@hellpaso](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hellpaso)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2010, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/botanists-id-this-flower/553763/2 "2010-09-14T20:01:08Z")
I’m certainly no botanist, but those appear to be a variety of pansy. Perhaps someone can give you the specific cultivar. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2010, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/botanists-id-this-flower/553763/3 "2010-09-14T20:05:17Z")
Yep. Definitely a variety of [Viola tricolor](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viola_tricolor). Identifying the variety is going to be tricky, I suspect, as they are many and rather mutable. ---
**Author:** ![Maastricht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@Maastricht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maastricht)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2010, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/botanists-id-this-flower/553763/4 "2010-09-14T20:54:06Z")
Damn, beaten to it. Yeah, viola tricolor. Might be an escaped garden hybrid variety. If you like them, they are for sale everywhere. But yes, they do look a little like scowling faces, don’t they? ---
**Author:** ![gwendee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/35a633/32.png) [@gwendee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gwendee)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2010, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/botanists-id-this-flower/553763/5 "2010-09-14T21:22:16Z")
If you wanted to grow the variety in the picture I’d suggest looking for Johnny Jump Up seeds or plants. I’m not a botanist and don’t know if JJUs are a type of pansy, or pansies and JJUs are two types of the same thing. ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2010, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/botanists-id-this-flower/553763/6 "2010-09-14T21:35:58Z")
> [@gwendee](#): > > If you wanted to grow the variety in the picture I’d suggest looking for Johnny Jump Up seeds or plants. I’m not a botanist and don’t know if JJUs are a type of pansy, or pansies and JJUs are two types of the same thing. The latter. They’re all [violas](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viola_(plant)), including the [JJUs](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viola_tricolor). ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2010, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/botanists-id-this-flower/553763/7 "2010-09-15T02:06:37Z")
Ah, the common viola, one of my favourite plants. They’re disliked as weeds by some, but I love the pretty purple flowers, and they grow everywhere, in any conditions here. I brought some seeds with me from my last yard, and they’ve started popping up everywhere here, too, in our new yard. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2010, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/botanists-id-this-flower/553763/8 "2010-09-15T15:10:19Z")
Thanks, everyone! I knew the truth was out there…TRM