The Theocrat

THE VIOLET FROM AFRICA

In the moist, warm, dripping atmosphere of the East African tropical forests there grew --for centuries unknown by white men -bright purple blossoms with golden centers.

The plants were low and succulent, the leaves covered with thick, wooly hairs. And the ground was purple with the abundance of flowers. They were shaped much like a violet of temperate lands. so when Baron Walter von Saint Paul of Silesia discovered the purple flowers and brought them from the loose, moist soil of the forest, they were called African violets. The Latin name by which they still are known was taken from their discoverer -- Saintpaulia ionantha --literally Saint Paul's violet. But it is not a violet: it is related to the tropical gloxinias.

A few years ago the African violet was virtually unknown as a house plant, but now it is among the most popular and most everblooming of them all. There is an African Violet Society interested in new varieties, and African violet enthusiasts everywhere.

But as in growing any plant, the nearer one comes to approximating the plant's native haunt. the better luck one has with it. Therefore. the formula for successful African violets includes loose soil (peat moss is excellent). plenty of moisture but no water standing around the crowns of the plant, water the temperature of the room, an east window in winter and either east or north in summer, so that sunlight is not too abundant, as in the forest.

Courtesy "The Living Museum" The Illinois State Museum.