As the snow begins to melt in mountainous regions of the country, new green shoots begins poking through the still cold earth in search of the spring which will shortly burst forth in resplendent glory.

One of the very first wild plants to make its presence known at this time and weeks before birds even begin thinking of building their nests in which to lay eggs and then raise their young, is the beautiful violet.

There are four species of these eye-catching little plants in the wild in Pakistan, two of them growing all over the hills and mountains and the other two very rare indeed.

The most common species of violet is botanically called Viola canescens which translates as ‘Dog toothed violet’, this name is based on the strange shape of its roots which, some people claim, look like dogs teeth and which, for this very same reason, was once claimed to be a cure for people unfortunate to have been bitten by a rabid dog.

This ‘dog violet’ grows in countless places across the north of Pakistan, in Kashmir and also in Bhutan, and has pretty little spurred flowers in shades of pale, almost white, violet through to dark violet and even, occasionally, purple. The flowers nestle in shiny, heart-shaped, green leaves that grow close to the ground.

In flower from as early as January through until early June depending on the altitude, it prefers to grow in shady, slightly damp locations where it can, in time, form huge clumps of delicately scented bloom that brighten up even the cloudiest of days. The other common species is viola betonicifolia which is very similar in appearance but has slightly larger flowers and relishes spots alongside rivers, streams and ponds. This species, it has long slender roots which are nothing like those of the previous species, is indigenous to northern Pakistan, India, Kashmir and over the Himalayan mountain ranges to south-west China and also, surprisingly enough, to Australia as well.

Not so easily found is viola stocksii, a plain’s growing species with smaller, paler flowers and whose habitat is plains and dry areas in Pakistan, India, Iran and Afghanistan. This species is, sadly, rapidly depleting as a direct result of urban expansion and agricultural inroads into previously wild areas of land.

Lastly there is the extremely rare, yellow flowered viola biflora which is an early summer flowering species of violet. This rare yellow violet is indigenous to humid, sub-alpine places and forests in Pakistan, Europe, Central Asia, Kashmir, Nepal, south west China, Japan and north-west America.

These wild violets or ‘violas’ are the ancestors of the much larger violas and pansies which are such popular garden plants today.