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When Collin Thacker began studying wildlife biology, he never expected to fall in love with a tiny, often overlooked flower. Now, in his senior year, Thacker has helped identify what may be four entirely new species of violets in the mountains of Virginia, two of them in the heart of Shenandoah National Park.

The discovery is the result of months of meticulous fieldwork, research and mentorship under OHIO professor Harvey Ballard, Ph.D., whose enthusiasm for violets sparked Thacker’s unexpected botanical journey.

“Dr. Ballard and his infinite passion for violets is just incredibly contagious,” Thacker said. “When I began my time with Dr. Ballard, I couldn’t pick out a violet in a field full of them. But he was so knowledgeable and helpful that I found it pretty easy to catch on.”

Thacker’s work has focused on the collection, observation and cultivation of violet species in the wild. As part of his research, he has spent countless hours identifying subtle morphological differences, or traits, that might otherwise go unnoticed.

Ballard, a renowned botanist with more than 30 years of experience studying violets and plant biodiversity, found Thacker in late spring after he applied for a competitive PACE summer research position. Thacker was then hired to assist Ballard with extensive fieldwork in Virginia’s mountain ranges, especially the Shenandoah Mountains.

“I needed someone who could be in the field full-time, two weeks at a time, for six weeks and Collin was perfect,” said Ballard. “He had a broad biological background, was willing to get his hands dirty and turned out to be one of the best field partners I’ve had.”

Together, the duo explored over 150 sites across the mountains and coastal regions, carefully cataloging violet populations. At the beginning of their 2025 field season, in the southern mountains of the state, they visited sites for a number of undescribed species which Ballard and his students had previously discovered, sometimes without success in relocating those violets. Thacker’s and Ballard’s efforts this summer paid off when what was once thought to be a single species turned out to be multiple, differentiated by flower shape, leaf structure, coloration and even hair texture. They were shocked to find four more new violet species during their two trips to the mountains.

“Put very simply, we looked,” Thacker explained. “Dr. Ballard knew of some places with high violet diversity, and we searched pretty intimately for anything that looked unusual.”

Two of the new species were incredibly rare: the Viola shenandoah, a lobed mountain violet confined to the area around Big Meadows Lodge in central Shenandoah National Park, and the Viola lacmontis growing around the Mountain Lake area and one site a couple of miles away. The other two new violet, Viola southernglabrous palmata and Viola northern glabrous palmata (both working names), are more widespread, in the southern and central mountains and the northern Blue Ridge mountains, respectively. All four are hairless, peculiar but distinctive variations on the common and hairy palmata violet type found over the eastern U.S.

“Violets are one of the most notorious plant groups. They look similar on the surface, but when you grow them side-by-side and examine them closely, you realize they’re very different,” Ballard explained.

Following their field season, Ballard was able to keep Thacker on throughout the academic year, allowing him to do something few undergraduate students get to experience - see a scientific discovery through from beginning to end.

“It’s hard to get students involved from the very beginning of a project and then carry it through all the way to a published manuscript,” Ballard said. “But with Collin, he will have an opportunity not often offered at an undergraduate level to truly go from the start of a research project to publication.”

The pair is now working on a manuscript that will formally describe and differentiate the four new violet species using detailed comparisons of flowers, leaves, fruits and habitats, complete with a comprehensive trait table and identification key.

“It’s the first time I’ve ever had an undergraduate be part of the entire process,” Ballard noted. “From identifying something new in the field to proving it, documenting it, and writing it up for publication.”

But their work isn’t finished yet.

“Research, research, and more research,” Thacker added. “We must study the seeds from the collected plants to ensure the species are actually different, as opposed to strange hybrids or simply different regional morphologies.”

Ballard’s fascination with violets began in his teens. At 14, he accidentally ate a poisonous plant, prompting a deep dive into botany. By the time he was in college, he was analyzing violet specimens in plant museums and realized that many were misidentified or misunderstood. His undergraduate thesis focused on violet hybrids in Michigan, work he’s continued to expand ever since.

Using common gardens, Ballard and his team grow living specimens collected from the field to observe subtle, but critical, differences. Add in microhabitat studies and occasional DNA work, and what once appeared to be a single species often turns out to be several.

“We’ve more than doubled the number of species in one major group of violets in the last 15 years,” Ballard said. “What used to be one broadly defined species, we now know includes at least eight or nine distinct ones in some cases.”

Despite Thacker’s zoological background, Ballard believes his work with plants has given him a crucial edge.

“To be a good biologist, you need a broad background. Zoologists need to understand the plants their animals rely on for food and shelter,” Ballard explained. “The flip side is also true, that botanists need to understand the organisms that pollinate, feed on or move the fruits or seeds of their plants.”

That interdisciplinary approach has helped other students as well. Ballard recalls a past zoology student, a fish biologist, especially, who learned to identify aquatic plants during courses and gained plant-related research experience in other projects and later found jobs because of those skill sets.

“You might not think plants matter to a fish biologist, but they do. And the ability to ID plants gives you a real advantage in the world of ecology and conservation, even if your focus is on one group of organisms,” Ballard said.

With over 20 new violet species already discovered by Ballard and his team, which include graduate students continuing the work in the southern Appalachians and Coastal Plain, the four newly uncovered species will be part of a broader taxonomic treatment of violets in the southeastern U.S.

“Eventually, others will build on this research,” Ballard said. “And that’s the goal, to document biodiversity so it can be conserved, studied and better understood.”

As for Thacker, the experience has changed his academic direction and possibly his future career.

“Without Dr. Ballard’s guidance, I would be directionless in this violet project,” he said. “I’m just happy to be included in such meaningful ways.”

Though he still hopes to pursue a career in zoology, Thacker admits this project has opened his eyes to new possibilities.

“I’d love to do veterinary work, but I’d be lying if I said this project hasn’t made me think about working with plants, maybe in research or agriculture.”

Ballard has no doubt about Thacker’s potential.

“If I could hire him again, I would. He’s getting the full research experience, and I expect he’ll go far.”