Good question. I have seen some violets that I would never have thought were chimeras that were and some I was sure were, which were not. Although a chimera is usually distinctive looking, I would say the only way to tell is to try to grow it from a leaf and see how it turns out. I have heard recently from the big growers that some chimeras can be grown true from a leaf. (Which would make it not a true chimera, correct!?!)

All that aside, I would say if it is a violet from a store-Kroger, HD, etc., it is not a chimera. They are time-consuming to reproduce and the wholesale growers do not bother with them. But , it could be a sport.

Did this answer your question??? :)

Linda

Maybe a sport of little hopi? Ive seen some pics which were similar.

I actually got this one from K&W greenery...the fill-a-flat sale is going on! :-D

But I didnt have enough money :-( I was just perusing the blooms to pass the time, which I often like to do.

My little Hopi II had a few blooms like that when I first bought it, bloom stalk propagation didn't take, and any later blooms were 'normal' fantasy.
There is a registered chimera sport of LH though, so it is possible :-)
The foliage looks a bit different than mine, but i think I recall it changing as it aged...

Karin

It is perfectly possible to find a chimera at a big box store. Unlikely but not impossible. They are just sports.

Everything I've ever read says that they don't reproduce from a leaf. Now perhaps there is a small percentage of leaves that would produce the chimera? Maybe that's what you read Linda? That there's a chance in XXXX, a small chance that a leaf might come true? However broadly speaking, chimeras do not come true from leaves.

What you could try is blossom stem propagation of it and see how that turns out. Violet Barn has instructions that don't involve any hormones.

Diana

@Diana, Maybe it is because I havent eaten breakfast, but the instructions weren't a hundred percent clear to me. Maybe I will revisit it after breakfast :-/

Diana,

At convention there was some talk of chimeras that come true from a leaf. I think it was Paul Sorano of Lyndon Lyon talking about this. It wasn't a formal talk, just chatting over the sales table.

My thought is that if it comes true from a leaf, it isn't a true chimera by definition, it is a chimera-like bloom.

Linda