CROATIAN FLORA 2004 - SWEET VIOLET (VIOLA ODORATA)

SWEET VIOLET - Viola odorata L. Sweet Violet is a favourite spring flower that appeals to people’s senses by its fine look and pleasing scent. It grows on clearings, among the bushes, in shady places and along woodland margins. The plant is also cultivated in gardens in the form of some smaller variety. It is a perennial plant with a thick and short underground stem and rich above-ground shoots. It propagates by both shoots and seeds. Individual flowers develop on a long stalk at the top of which there are five dark blue to purple and violet, and sometimes white or pale red petals. The flower attracts people by its beauty, delicacy and fragrance. It symbolizes the awakening of life by its early spring blossoming. The violet has a pleasing, well known and characteristic fragrance that appeals to man’s senses. All parts of the plant are used for medicinal purposes: flowers, leaves, the whole plant and the stem. The essential medicinal ingredients are proteins, volatile oils, saponin, alkaloid violin and compounds of salicylic acid. As a medicinal herb the sweet violet has been well known and appreciated since the times of Greek civilization. It is applied as a cure against coughing, as a soothing remedy in cases of hysteria, hypochondria and nervous heartbeat. Furthermore, it is used in the form of tea to prevent cramps, insomnia and headache. External application comes in forms of foot baths, rinses for the mouth or eyelids, and also in compresses for sore parts of the body.