''Exacum affine''''Exacum affine''. The Plant List. Accessed on 04 October 2014. known commercially as the Persian violet, is a species of
plant
Plants are predominantly photosynthetic eukaryotes of the kingdom Plantae. Historically, the plant kingdom encompassed all living things that were not animals, and included algae and fungi; however, all current definitions of Plantae exclud ...
in the family
Gentianaceae
Gentianaceae is a family of flowering plants of 103 genera and about 1600 species.
Etymology
The family takes its name from the genus '' Gentiana'', named after the Illyrian king Gentius.
Distribution
Distribution is cosmopolitan.
Characteri ...
. It is
endemic
Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...
to
Socotra
Socotra or Soqotra (; ar, سُقُطْرَىٰ ; so, Suqadara) is an island of the Republic of Yemen in the Indian Ocean, under the ''de facto'' control of the UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council, a secessionist participant in Yemen’s ...
, part of
Yemen
Yemen (; ar, ٱلْيَمَن, al-Yaman), officially the Republic of Yemen,, ) is a country in Western Asia. It is situated on the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula, and borders Saudi Arabia to the Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, north and ...
, though its popularity and cultivation around the world have made it an occasional greenhouse weed. Its natural
habitat
In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...
is rocky areas. This is a small herbaceous biennial plant with dark green, ovate leaves. The small purple flowers have a yellow centre with fragrance.
Cultivation
In the UK, ''Exacum affine'' has won the
Royal Horticultural Society
The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), founded in 1804 as the Horticultural Society of London, is the UK's leading gardening charity.
The RHS promotes horticulture through its five gardens at Wisley (Surrey), Hyde Hall (Essex), Harlow Carr (Nort ...
's
Award of Garden Merit
The Award of Garden Merit (AGM) is a long-established annual award for plants by the British Royal Horticultural Society (RHS). It is based on assessment of the plants' performance under UK growing conditions.
History
The Award of Garden Merit ...
. This tender
annual
Annual may refer to:
* Annual publication, periodical publications appearing regularly once per year
**Yearbook
** Literary annual
* Annual plant
* Annual report
* Annual giving
* Annual, Morocco, a settlement in northeastern Morocco
* Annuals (b ...
or
biennial plant
A biennial plant is a flowering plant that, generally in a temperate climate, takes two years to complete its biological life cycle.
Life cycle
In its first year, the biennal plant undergoes primary growth, during which its vegetative structures ...
is sown in heat in early spring, and planted out when all danger of frost has passed (May or June, depending on the location).
References
affine
Affine may describe any of various topics concerned with connections or affinities.
It may refer to:
* Affine, a relative by marriage in law and anthropology
* Affine cipher, a special case of the more general substitution cipher
* Affine comb ...