Violet Majesty: Matthiola Incana Unveiled – Growth, Care & More

The Matthiola incana, commonly known as the violet, is a biennial or perennial herb in the Cruciferae family. The entire plant is densely covered with grayish-white, stalked, branched soft hairs. The stem stands upright with many branches and has a slightly woody base.

The leaves range from oval to lanceolate or spatulate. This species is native to the Mediterranean coast, widely cultivated in southern China, and is considered one of Europe’s famed flowers. It is often found in large Chinese cities and can be cultivated in gardens or greenhouses for ornamental purposes.

This flower closely resembles the pansy, which can cause confusion. The long cylindrical siliques are 7-8 cm in length, about 3 mm in diameter, with a clear vein in the middle, and a shallow split at the top. The pedicel is robust, 10-15 mm long.

The seeds are nearly round, about 2 mm in diameter, flat, dark brown, with a white membranous wing around the edge. The blooming period is from April to May.

Physical Features

As a biennial or perennial herb, it can grow up to 60 cm tall, densely covered with grayish-white, stalked, branched soft hairs. The stem stands upright with many branches and has a slightly woody base.

The leaves range from oval to lanceolate or spatulate. Including the petiole, they are 6-14 cm long and 1.2-2.5 cm wide, with an entire or slightly wavy margin. The top is blunt or occasionally has a short sharp tip, and the base narrows down to the stem.

The flowers bloom on the top and axils in many clusters, larger, and the inflorescence axis elongates during fruiting. The thick and sturdy pedicel spreads upward, reaching 1.5 mm in length.

The calyx is upright, long oval, about 15 mm long, with a sack-like base and a membranous, transparent white edge. The petals can be purple, pale red, or white, nearly oval, about 12 mm long, slightly 2-cleft or recessed at the top, wavy on the edge, and have a long claw at the bottom. The filaments gradually widen towards the base. The ovary is cylindrical, and the stigma is slightly 2-cleft.

The long cylindrical siliques are 7-8 cm in length, about 3 mm in diameter, with a clear vein in the middle and a shallow split at the top. The pedicel is robust, 10-15 mm long.

The seeds are nearly round, about 2 mm in diameter, flat, dark brown, with a white membranous wing around the edge. The blooming period is from April to May.

Growing Environment

Matthiola incana prefer a cool climate and are not fond of dry heat. They thrive in well-ventilated environments. While they favor mild climates in winter, they can withstand brief periods of -5℃.

The optimal growing temperature during the day is 15-18℃ and around 10℃ at night. They are not particularly demanding when it comes to soil, but they grow best in well-drained, neutral to slightly alkaline soils, disliking acidic conditions.

Matthiola incana are cold-tolerant, not shade-tolerant, and fear waterlogging. They thrive in higher places, but are susceptible to pests during hot, humid weather with poor ventilation.

Over-fertilizing is not advisable, as it can inhibit flowering. Insufficient light and ventilation can make the plants prone to diseases and pests.

Distribution Range

Originally native to Southern Europe and the Mediterranean coast, the Matthiola Incana, also known as Stock, is now prevalent in the major cities of Southern China. In the North, it is commonly planted in garden flower beds or greenhouses for ornamental purposes.

Propagation Methods

The primary method of propagation for the Stock is through seed sowing. The ideal time for outdoor sowing is in mid-September. It’s advisable to select single-petal plants as the parent plants for seed collection since double-petal flowers lack pistils and can’t produce seeds.

When collecting seeds from potted parent plants, the second generation tends to have a higher double petal rate. Before sowing, ensure the soil in the pot is moderately moist. After sowing, cover with a thin layer of fine soil and avoid further watering.

If the soil in the pot dries out within two weeks, you can place half of the pot in water to moisten the soil from the bottom. Ensure that the seedbed is shaded after sowing, and seedlings should appear within 15 days.

Seedlings should be transplanted to a nursery bed with a plant spacing of 6×8 cm before the true leaves unfold. Be careful not to damage the roots when pulling out the seedlings, and ensure they bring a soil ball. Prior to planting, apply some dried pig or chicken manure to the soil as a base fertilizer.

After planting, thoroughly water the plants and shade them without making the atmosphere stuffy. If potted, move the plants to a cool, well-ventilated place. Once established, move them to a sunny location and water them every other day.

Apply a mature liquid fertilizer every ten days, and stop as soon as the flowers appear. For taller varieties, prune the flower branches after blooming, then apply diluted liquid fertilizer one or two more times. This will stimulate the growth of lateral branches.

Before the first frost arrives, dig up the planted stocks with a soil clump, pile them into a sun-facing ridge or place them indoors in flower pots for overwintering.

Typically, seeds are sown from mid-August to early October. However, this can be adjusted based on when you want the flowers to bloom.

If you sow seeds in a greenhouse in February, they’ll bloom in May; sow in March, they’ll bloom in June, and so forth. But if sown in July, they won’t bloom until the following February or March in the greenhouse. Do not sow seeds too densely to avoid damping-off disease in seedlings.

If cultivated as biennials, pot sowing can be done in September. The optimum temperature for sowing is between 16-18°C. Ensure that the soil is well-watered before sowing, and avoid watering directly after sowing.

If the soil becomes dry and white, use a spray bottle to moisten it or use the “pot immersion method” to keep the soil moist. The seeds will typically germinate about two weeks after sowing.

Cultivation Techniques

After sowing, Stock plants are ready to be transplanted after about 30 to 40 days, when there are 6 to 7 true leaves. Plant spacing depends on the branching habits of the variety: 12 cm x 12 cm for non-branching varieties, and 18 cm x 18 cm for branching varieties.

Keep in mind that the root system of the Stock is taproot, so avoid breaking the root seedlings and be very careful when transplanting with root soil.

As flower bud differentiation only occurs at temperatures below 15°C for more than 20 days, by late October, open all the ventilation windows and entrances to lower the temperature and ensure flower bud differentiation.

Normally, it is not necessary to pinch the plant. However, for branching varieties, about 15 to 20 days after planting, when the true leaves have increased to about 10 and the plant is growing vigorously, you may want to leave 6 to 7 true leaves and pinch out the apical bud.

After the side branches have developed, leave 3 to 4 branches on the upper part and remove the rest as early as possible. By mid-October, when the plant is 30 to 40 cm tall, it’s time to spread the net.

Notably, because the double-petal plants are much more visually appealing than the single-petal plants, the question of how to select double-petal plants arises in cultivation. Usually, this problem is solved by choosing the seed mother plant and the seedlings.

Because the double-petal species’ stamens and pistils are all petalized and cannot form seeds, seeds can only be taken from single-petal plants. Among these, some offspring are completely single-petal (referred to as pure single-petal plants), and others can separate 50% to 80% of double-petal plants.

Typically, pure single-petaled plants exhibit robust growth, an upright form, vibrant green foliage, and leaves that are ovate with pointed tips, hanging slightly or lying flat without drooping. Their elongated fruits are straight and wide, growing at an upward angle, with horn-like protrusions at the top.

On the other hand, single-petaled plants with double petal genetics grow less vigorously, presenting a curved posture, dark green foliage, and round leaf tips that droop in an arch shape.

Their elongated fruits are curved, devoid of horn-like protrusions, and grow flush with the flower branches.

When harvesting seeds, the latter type should be preferred, specifically selecting smaller seeds that appear underdeveloped for sowing. Apart from annual varieties, all require cold treatment to pass through the vernalization stage and bloom, hence they are typically cultivated as biennials in open fields.

The ideal growing temperature ranges from 15 to 18 degrees Celsius during the day and around 10 degrees at night. However, during the flower bud differentiation phase, a cold period of 5 to 8 degrees is needed.

Seedlings with eight or more true leaves, when exposed to temperatures between 5 to 15 degrees for three weeks, will undergo bud differentiation. Therefore, under natural conditions, bud differentiation often occurs in the mid to late October.

For early yields, seedlings are exposed to the same cold temperatures from mid-October to encourage bud differentiation. After the buds have differentiated, they will develop rapidly in long daylight conditions, provided temperatures remain above 5 degrees, enabling flowering to occur two weeks earlier.

Blooming period of violets can be controlled by variety selection, sowing period, and the use of greenhouses, cold frames, and artificial light.

For annual varieties, in cool summer regions, they can be sown all year round. If sown in January, they bloom in May; sowing in February or March results in flowering by June, April sowing leads to July blooms, and mid-May sowing yields flowers in August.

Thus, a typical growing period of 100 to 150 days is required.

Disease and Pest Control

Diseases

Matthiola incana, commonly known as Stock, is often affected by diseases and pests. Its main diseases include stock wilt, yellow wilt, white rust, and flower leaf disease.

Downy Mildew

Downy mildew disease in stocks was discovered in Zhongshan Park, Shanghai. It causes leaf wilting, drooping, and even the entire plant to die.

Affected leaves display pale green spots on the surface that later turn yellow, with no obvious edge, and are restricted by leaf veins to form angular spots.

Corresponding to these spots on the underside of the leaves is a layer of white frost-like growth. New shoots and all parts of the flower can also be infected, resulting in dwarfed or deformed plants.

The pathogen overwinters in the soil and diseased plant residue as oospores, which begin to germinate and cause initial infection in the following spring. Dense planting and poor drainage tend to aggravate the disease.

Prevention: Avoid prolonged pruning and promptly remove diseased plants. Use the new fungicide Ethaboxam A3 developed by the Shanghai Pesticide Testing Factory, at a concentration of 2-3 grams per liter of water.

Wilt Disease

This disease is caused by Fusarium fungus. The main symptoms include dwarfing and wilting of plants. Young plants show obvious vein patterns on their leaves, while larger plants exhibit symptoms like drooping leaves.

Prevention: Seeds can be heat-treated by immersing them in 50-55°C water for 10 minutes to kill the carried pathogens; the soil for planting stocks should be sterilized before use, and a solution of potassium permanganate at a ratio of 1:1000 can be used as a fungicide; if plants with severe infection are found, they should be immediately pulled out and burned to prevent transmission to other healthy plants.

Yellow Wilt Disease

Symptoms of this disease include yellowing and wilting of lower leaves of the plant. Affected plants are severely dwarfed, and their vascular tissues change color rapidly. Prevention methods are similar to those for wilt disease.

White Rust Disease

This disease is caused by white rust. After infection, the affected parts of stock plants turn yellow, and later turn brown. Under the epidermis of the leaves, chain-like colorless spores are produced.

Prevention: This disease is also serious on other plants of the Brassicaceae family. If stocks are placed with other Brassicaceae plants, they will infect each other.

Therefore, weeds of the Brassicaceae family should be eradicated and kept isolated from other Brassicaceae plants; before stocks get infected, they should be sprayed with a 3-4 degree lime sulfur mixture for prevention.

During the growing season, depending on the disease condition, spray a 500-600 times solution of 65% zinc dimethyldithiocarbamate or a 250-300 times solution of sodium pentachlorophenate for prevention.

Flower Leaf Disease

This disease is caused by the turnip yellow mosaic virus, also known as cabbage virus 1. It is transmitted by 40-50 types of aphids, mainly peach aphids and cabbage aphids, and can also be spread through sap.

This virus can harm many plants of the Brassicaceae family and other non-Brassicaceae plants. Therefore, they should be isolated from these plants.

Prevention: Isolate from other plants with the virus; aphids should be eliminated in a timely manner, and plant-derived insecticides such as 1.2% nicotine alkaloid in 2000-4000 times solution or systemic insecticides such as 10% imidacloprid in 2000 times solution can be used for prevention.

Blight

When stocks are infected with this disease, their leaves show large circular spots, which become soft and rot in wet conditions and turn light blue when dry, cracking easily. The stems of the infected plants show water-soaked, dark green spots.

The diseased part generally constricts, but the vascular bundles do not change color, and the leaves above the affected area wilt. If several parts of the stem of a plant are affected, the whole plant will quickly wilt and dry up.

When seedlings are infected, the growth points often show dark green, water-soaked spots, which after rotting turn into dry tips.

Prevention: In addition to choosing disease-resistant varieties and practicing crop rotation, the disease can be controlled by timely medication. When the central diseased plant is found, it should be immediately treated with appropriate pesticides.

Leaf Spot Disease

This disease is caused by continuous cropping, high planting density, poor ventilation, and high humidity.
Prevention: Remove the residues of diseased plants to reduce the sources of infection; use disease-resistant varieties and appropriately increase the application of phosphorus and potassium fertilizers to improve plant disease resistance; implement crop rotation; irrigate along the soil surface to avoid spraying water on the plants; spray 1% Bordeaux mixture or a 300-600 times solution of 25% mancozeb or a 1000 times solution of 50% methoxyacrylate, or a 400-600 times solution of 80% mancozeb and zinc.

Damping-off Disease

This disease is mainly transmitted through soil and fertilizer. It occurs easily when the humidity is high, the soil temperature is too high, seeding is too dense, and seedlings are growing weakly.
Prevention: Remove diseased plants in a timely manner; disinfect the soil; control watering appropriately before seedlings emerge; during the early stage of the disease, irrigate with a 300-400 times solution of 50% thiophanate-methyl or a 1000 times solution of 70% methoxyacrylate.

Rot Disease

This disease is mainly caused by high humidity, insufficient light, and poor ventilation.
Prevention: Control moisture appropriately and ensure adequate light and ventilation.

Pests

The main pests are aphids, which accumulate on leaves, buds, and flower buds. They use their piercing-sucking mouthparts to pierce plant tissues and suck sap, causing yellow or black spots to appear on the affected parts.

Infected leaves shrivel and fall, flower buds shrink or grow abnormally, and in severe cases, plants can die. Aphids can secrete honeydew, leading to bacterial growth and inducing diseases like sooty mold.

Prevention: Remove nearby weeds to eliminate potential habitats; spray a 1000-1500 times solution of 40% dimethoate or a 2000-3000 times solution of pyrethrin or a 1000 times solution of 80% omethoate.

Main Value

Garden Value

Matthiola incana are dense with flowers, brightly colored, and fragrant. They have a long blooming period and abundant flower clusters, making them beloved by many flower enthusiasts.

They are suitable for pot cultivation and decoration of flower beds, steps, and flower paths. The entire plant with its flowers can be used for bouquets.

Matthiola incana can be used as cut flowers for the winter and spring seasons. Due to their strong cold resistance, they require less cost in heating and fewer labor, making them of high cultivation value.

The cycle from planting to harvesting is short, so they are widely used. Usually, violets cultivated indoors without branching are marketed from December to February of the following year. Most of those marketed from late March to April are cultivated outdoors with branching.

Generally, those without branching are more valuable, and the price of double-flowered Matthiola incana is 2-3 times higher than that of single-flowered ones.

Health Value

Matthiola incana have health benefits, including heat clearing and detoxifying effects, skin whitening and spot reducing properties, skin moisturizing, wrinkle and spot eliminating benefits, and can eliminate oral odors and enhance gloss.

They also protect against UV radiation. Matthiola incana can help the respiratory tract significantly, aid in the treatment of bronchitis, and moisturize the throat. They can also solve oral odors caused by cavities.

Plant Culture

In ancient Greece, Matthiola incana symbolized abundance and productivity, and Athens used them as emblems on their flags. They are the state flower of Rhode Island in the United States, and their floral language represents “eternal beauty and love”.

Matthiola incana floral language: Eternal beauty and love; Modesty, virtue, coolness of midsummer.
Matthiola incana (blue): Caution, loyalty, I will always be loyal.
Matthiola incana (white): Let’s seize the opportunity for happiness.
Matthiola incana (purple): Falling in love with you in a dream, to me, you are always so beautiful.
At the same time, the violet is also the lucky flower of Taurus.
Matthiola incana symbolizes: Elegance, honesty.