Viola arvensis Murray, Field Pansy

Account Summary

Growth form and preferred habitats

A winter or summer annual weed with a slender taproot, V. arvensis differs from V. tricolor (Wild Pansy) in its smaller flowers (6-15 mm across), which have petals that are very slightly shorter than the sepals and are mostly creamy-white with a yellow eye, variably streaked with purple or orange. The habit of V. arvensis is sprawling, but shrubby and, in comparison with V. tricolor, it is more dense and more leafy in the upper part of the plant, having shorter internodes. The blossom is cup-shaped, not flat-faced as in V. tricolor and the small, white to pale cream, sometimes flushed with blue flowers have sepals that are longer than the petals (Webb et al. 1996; Porter & Foley 2017).

However, despite its rarity in our survey area, V. arvensis seed is capable of surviving in soil for up to 400 years (Cook 1980, p. 114), so that this little weed could still be found as a casual on any piece of open, cultivated or frequently disturbed waste ground, well-drained, light, sandy or gravelly ground, including in gardens, parks, sand-pits and quarries and the plant should be actively looked for in these situations in Fermanagh. In the disturbed habitats to which it appears restricted, V. arvensis shows a definite preference for base- and nutrient-rich calcareous or neutral conditions in comparison with less fertile, moderately acid soils. This explains why it is only ever really frequent and abundant on farmland.

Fermanagh occurrence

With a total of just six Fermanagh records, V. arvensis was never more than an occasional species and is now very rare in the VC. The Fermanagh Flora Database has only three post-1975 records that are widely spaced in both space and date, each observation representing just a handful of individual plants.

Additional to the first record given above, the other five Fermanagh records in the Fermanagh Flora Database are: sandy fields below Gortaree, Slieve Rushin, 1949, MCM & D; fields above Corragh Lough, S of Lisnaskea, 1951, MCM & D; Kilmore South, Derrychaan shore, Upper Lough Erne, 6 August 1986, S.J. Leach & A.S. McMullin; by border bridge, Muckle Rocks, near County Bridge, 13 August 1995, RHN; waste ground N of road near Rossharbour, Bigwood Td, N shore of Lower Lough Erne, 29 September 2001, RHN.

British and Irish status

Previous Floras of B & I regarded V. arvensis as indigenous (An Irish Flora; New Flora of the BI), but the New Atlas is the first document which recognises Field Pansy as an 'archaeophyte', an ancient (pre-1500 AD) accidentally introduced weed of cultivation (M.J.Y. Foley & M.S. Porter, in: Preston et al. 2002). The argument for reclassifying 157 previous native species as probable archaeophytes was subsequently published (Preston et al. 2004). In view of its very strong links with agriculture and with human disturbed sites, the correct status of V. arvensis is, very probably, as an archaeophyte and this now appears to be generally accepted (Porter & Foley 2017).

Irish occurrence

In Ireland, V. arvensis is largely a plant of the eastern half of the island, although Hackney et al. (1992) found it occurred rather frequently as a weed of lowland arable fields and waste ground in the NE counties of Down, Antrim and Londonderry (H38, H39 & H40) (FNEI 3). On the other hand, around the Lough Neagh lowlands in the SE centre of these three VCs, Harron (1986) (Flora of Lough Neagh) found there were, "few records … widespread but sparingly distributed".

The New Atlas map shows the species scattered throughout most of Ireland, but the spread of date classes clearly indicates a widespread decline to local extinction in most of W & C Ireland, a fact which emphasises this violet's current easterly Irish distribution.

British occurrence

Field Pansy is very much more common and widespread in Britain than ever was the case in Ireland. V. arvensis is present throughout most of England, Wales, the Isle of Man and the Channel Isles on suitable soils on lowland and at moderate altitude. It is also frequent in E Scotland as far north as the Moray Firth. It is much less frequent in the west and far north of Scotland and on the offshore Scottish islands, where suitable soils and growing conditions are rare or absent due to the acidity of the rock structure and the widespread development of peat in the strongly oceanic climate of the region.

European and world occurrence

Examining the world map of the species and its frequency, this variable pansy certainly must have originated in open habitats in SE Europe and adjacent parts of Asia. It has been widely spread with cultivation beyond this, for instance to N Scandinavia, where it is regarded as a casual archaeophyte (Jonsell et al. 2010) and to N & S Africa, N America (widespread, mainly present in eastern and midland states), Iceland, Greenland, New Zealand and Tasmania (Hultén & Fries 1986, Map 1338). This spread of the species by agricultural man strongly supports the case for archaeophyte status in NW Europe, including in B & I.

Threats

None.

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