Wild Violet

by Dejan Zakic - Unsplash

Author's Note: This plant is partly my own creation, and partly inspired by real wild violets found in Northern Ontario
The Wild Violet plant is a short, herbaceous plant that grows prolifically in the forests of Canada and is quite happy in Northern Ontario. While there are a few sub-species, the most common type is the purple wild violet. 
It grows no more than four inches high, has wide, dark green, hairy leaves, and purple flowers tipped with mauve. Both the flowers and the leaves are edible, although the leaves admittedly do taste better in the spring when they're still young. Despite the plant's short stature, if is left undisturbed, some plants will continue to regrow for many years. The oldest recorded Wild Violet specimen is approximately 10 years old.
The flowers have been used as decoration in salads in high-end restaurants. 
A soap-maker local to Sitka Cove produces an amber-hued, semi-transparent soap with wild violet flowers inside.
There are area Elders who claim that a tea containing wild violet, among other plants reduced or eliminated minor forms of cancer. These claims have yet to be investigated and verified.
The First Nations people of the area in the previous century used wild violet to treat symptoms of upper chest maladies, as well as the common cold.
All types of Wild Violet can grow in either lightly shaded areas or in sun, but none have yet been found in the deep shade of older forests, although there aren't many of those left. They propagate by seed dispersal, aided by ants and birds, as well as by underground root spreading.
It is believed that the multiple reproduction adaptations have evolved due to the flammable nature of the plant. Of course, the region most Wild Violets are found is also flammable and frequently razed by wildfires.
Ants are attracted to a sticky coating on the seeds, which are high in protein. They've been observed removing the seeds and taking them below ground to their "farms", where they remove the coating and feed it to the larvae and Queen of the colony. Once denuded of its protective coating, the seed is then moved to the refuse pile of the colony, where they germinate and grow. 
Birds have been seen poking into ant colonies' refuse piles in order to eat both the discarded seed and any ants they find there. Northern Flickers, most especially.