Pansy

Pansy (from the French pensee, "thought"), is one of many popular names for Viola tricolor. As Ophelia says in Hamlet, "And there is pansies - that's for thoughts." Milton, in Lycidas, speaks of "the pansie streaked with jet." Other names are Heart's-ease, Love-in-idleness (Midsummer Night's Dream, act ii. sc. 2), and Tbree-faces-under-ahood. This species, of which the cultivated varieties are endless, is remarkable for the large pinnately-lobed stipules to its leaves, the varied colours (q.v.) belonging both to the xanthic and the cyanic series, combined in its petals, and the absence of the cleistogamous flowers which are present in the violet (q.v.). I" tricolor is a common weed in cultivated ground.