Hesperis matronalis L., Dame's-violet
Account Summary
Introduction, neophyte, an occasional, widely scattered garden escape.
1899; West, W.; Derrygonnelly village.
April to November.
Growth form and preferred habitats
This attractive, large and distinctive perennial or occasional biennial with its often 100 cm tall, erect leafy stems and night-perfumed white, pinkish-lilac or purple flowers is a common garden escape.
It colonises open, disturbed habitats on waste ground, in old quarries, woods, hedgerows, roadside verges and damp streamsides and riverbanks. In B & I, it is never found far from habitation (Rich 1991).
Fermanagh and Irish occurrence
Dame's-violet is widely scattered in Fermanagh. It has been recorded in 31 tetrads, 5.9% of those in the VC. Robert Northridge and the current author consider it uncommon and occasional in suitable open, disturbed ground near gardens, past or present. While catalogued as having occurred at least once in 36 of the 40 Irish VCs, it is regarded in Ireland as widespread throughout – but rarely well-established in the wild (Cat Alien Pl Ir).
Until recent decades all such garden escapes, and indeed most other definite aliens, have tended to be under-recorded in many parts of B & I due to a widespread and lingering prejudice against them felt by earlier generations of botanists (eg Praeger 1901). For this reason we believe that Dame's Violet is (or was) probably somewhat more frequent and widespread in Fermanagh than the survey data and the tetrad map suggests.
British occurrence and status
A native of S Europe and W Asia, H. matronalis has a very long history of decorative garden cultivation and has been introduced for this reason to many parts of the globe. It has been grown in gardens in B & I "from earliest times" according to Genders (1971), and documentary proof shows this means at least since 1375 (Harvey 1981). Despite its early garden introduction, Dame's-violet was not recorded from the wild in Britain until 1805, making it a neophyte here. The New Atlas hectad map indicates H. matronalis is a very frequent and widespread garden escape in Britain, although more commonly recorded from some areas than others. Northwards it becomes less prevalent, or indeed absent in parts of C & NW Scotland. While it is often well-established, this only happens in relatively open, preferably damp or shaded sites, where competition remains slight (D.A. Pearman, in: Preston et al. 2002).
Flowering reproduction
The numerous flowers produced from mid-May to August possess a powerful scent, especially at night. The perfume is almost absent during the day. It smells rather similar to the Sweet Violet (Viola odorata) and hence the English common name 'Dame's-violet'. However, it also carries spicy undertones of cinnamon, since cinnamic alcohol is present. The perfume and the generally light flower colour attracts night-flying Lepidoptera (moths), though the flowers are also capable of self-pollination, the anthers of older, unvisited flowers bending inwards to cover the stigma with pollen (Genders 1971). The current author has found little else definite about the floral or population biology of the species in the literature.
The spreading, long, thin, torulose (twisted) fruits are indented or constricted like a row of beads and, when ripe, they split to release the seeds (Rich 1991). The seeds are light and are readily dispersed by wind. Like the Wallflower (Erysimum chieri) they are sufficiently numerous to be able regularly to jump the garden wall (Ridley 1930; Salisbury 1942). Germination is immediate and there does not appear to be any data on a buried soil seed bank (Thompson et al. 1997).
European and world occurrence
Variation in H. matronalis is such that its taxonomic status is often described as 'unclear' and Jalas & Suominen (1994) refer to it as a species group, ie consisting of several related species and subspecies whose relationships require further study. Of course this makes mapping the supposedly native occurrence of the plant difficult, to say the least, yet their map for H. matronalis in the broad sense indicates a distribution stretching from N Spain, S France, Italy and the Balkan states to the N coast of the Black Sea and further NE into continental Russia (Jalas & Suominen 1994, Map 2252). This map also indicates just how widespread the naturalised garden plant is in the rest of Europe, and the species (or species group) is also described as widely naturalised in N America and Australasia (Rich 1991).
Uses
Grieve (1931) appears to confuse H. matronalis with Eruca sativa (Garden Rocket or Salad Rocket), and apart from her comment on the perfume (that the plant represents deceit in the ancient language of flowers, since it gives out a lovely perfume in the evening, but in the daytime has none), she should be ignored on the edible or medicinal uses of this species.
Names
The genus name 'Hesperis' is an ancient name given by Theophrastus to a plant flowering in the evening, being derived from the Greek 'hespera', meaning 'the evening' (Gilbert-Carter 1964; Stearn 1992). The Latin specific epithet 'matronalis', means 'of or belonging to a married woman' ('matrona') (Gilbert-Carter 1964). The dame in question almost certainly refers to Saint Mary, the Madonna.
The English common name 'Dame's Violet' was first used by Lyte (1578) and is a straight translation of the botanists' Latin 'viola flos matronalis', which Grigson (1974) points out was in turn a translation of a Greek name in Dioscorides herbal for some such (ie unknown) plant. The original Dioscoridean name indicated a plant used by the herbalist to treat diseases of women. Another suggestion of the origin is through an error associated with a similar name 'Damask Violet', for Viola damascena from Damascus in Syria. This plant was named in French 'Violette de Damas' and misunderstood as 'Violette des dames' (Prior 1879).
Sixteen English common names are listed by Britten & Holland (1886), including 'Damewort' and 'Dame's Gilliflower' (Britten & Holland 1886). Surely the most ridiculous name ever given to any plant must be 'Close Sciences', perpetrated on this plant by Gerard (1633, p. 463). Prior (1879) gives us an idea of how it may have developed from another name for H. matronalis, the single form of the flower being called 'Single Sciney', and the double variety 'Close Sciney' in Parkinson's (1640) Theatrum Botanicum (p. 628). 'Sciney' probably arose from the one time specific name 'Damascena', understood as 'Dame's Scena', and then corrupted to 'Sciney'. Gerard excelled himself and made the name for the double form into his 'Close Sciences'!
Threats
None.