What Is the Scientific Name for Pansies?

Scientific Name

• The scientific name for pansies is Viola x wittrockiana. Pansies are descended from wild violets. Accordingly, they're in the viola family, which includes pansies, sweet violets (Viola odorata) and Russian violets (Viola suavis). The entire genus includes more than 400 species.

Why It Matters

• There's often overlap in plant names, which can be confusing to the home gardener. Scientific names offer further clarification and prevent mistakes. For example, "Forest Pansy" is a cultivar of a native eastern redbud tree that grows in USDA plant hardiness zones 5 through 9. Knowing its scientific name -- Cercis canadensis "Forest Pansy" -- makes it clear that this plant is not the hardy, cool-weather flower known as a pansy. African violets (Saintpaulia ionantha), despite their name, aren't related to violets or pansies at all. They're tropical plants that are grown as houseplants.

The Family Resemblance

• Knowing pansy's scientific name helps you avoid confusing it with entirely different plants, but it also provides clarity when you're discussing plants within the same family. Pansies and violets are similar, but pansies have larger, more showy flowers, as well as more compact growth. Violets (Viola tricolor), sometimes known as Johnny-Jump-Ups, have small, abundant flowers that are purple, yellow and white. Sweet violets (Viola odorata) have small purple flowers and grow best in shade. In moist conditions, they can become weedy.

Care

• Whether you call pansies by their common or scientific name, these colorful plants brighten flower beds and pots in spring and fall. Technically perennials, these hardy plants survive cold weather and even snow, but they tend to wilt in heat and humidity. Many people grow them as annuals because of this tendency. Plant pansies from nursery transplants or start the seeds indoors yourself eight weeks before planting time. Plant pansies several weeks before the last frost in spring, or in early fall. The plants tolerate full sun to partial shade and need consistently moist soil. Fertilize them in spring and fall with 1 tablespoon granular 10-10-10 fertilizer diluted with 1 gallon water. Mulching them over the winter and cutting them back in the heat of summer can prolong their growing season.