Botanical name: Viola x wittrockiana     Family: Violaceae (violet family)

The Pansy is a plant cultivated as a garden flower. Lovely grown in pots, troughs, or as mass plantings, pansies have never gone out of fashion. These lightly scented flowers are available in a huge range of colors. The name pansy is from the French word pensée, meaning thought or remembrance. The dark centers in some flowers are thought to resemble little faces. They grow only six to ten inches high and can spread up to ten to twelve inches across. Pansies can be distinguished from Violets in that while the petals of Violets may have dark lines on them, Pansy flowers have big blotches that make them strongly resemble faces. However, with more and more new cultivars of both being created, the distinction has somewhat blurred. They grow well in sun or semi-shade, and can tolerate cool weather. The modern Garden Pansy (V. × wittrockiana) is a plant of complex hybrid origin involving at least three species, V. tricolor (Wild Pansy or Heartsease), V. altaica and V. lutea.

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The flower labeled Pansy is ...