Viola odorata - “with violets in her lap”



Latin name:Viola odorata, can be used interchangeably with V. tricolor, V. yedoensis, V. canadensis, V. blanda, V. biflora, V. sororia, V. adunca, and other species.

Family: Violaceae

Common names (for Viola spp.): Sweet violet, English violet, common violet, wood violet, pansy, dog violet, garden violet, Three Faces Under a Hood, Sálchuach, Love-In-Idleness, Brog na Cuthaig, Styvmorsviol, Duftveilchen,

Energetics: Cool, demulcent, salty.

Primary Actions: Demulcent, lymphatic, alterative, diuretic.

Habitat: Perennial. Viola odorata is native to Europe, introduced to North America with colonialism, yet the Violaceae family is found in most corners of the world where woodlands and open spaces meet

The blooms of violets signify the thaw after a long winter, bleeding color into a monochrome landscape, bringing giddiness at the sight of them, much like spring can bring in colder climates. Safe, and easily recognizable, children eat handfuls of the blooms, or offer them to the faeries. Everyone knows the delicate beauty of violets. Yet, if we dig deeper under the surface, violets may reveal a hidden life.
Viola odorata is of two worlds; an unfurling outwards into early spring air, the first evidence of the earth’s pulse after the death of winter, and at the same time it whispers to the underworld, shrouded in the dirt and its own roots; subterranean flowers bloom. Violet loves to live at the edge between the sun and shadow, you will find it in clearings or paths in the woods, on a hillside, or at the edge of forests, one foot in light, the other in shadow. Violata odorata is native to Europe, brought to the Americas during its initial stages of colonialism as a medicinal and decorative herb (Wildseed, 2020). There are over 1000 species of Violaceae, which can be found in most parts of the world (Wikipedia). It is known as both cleistogamous and chasmogamous, cleistos in Greek meaning “closed,” gamos signifying marriage, chasmaas the opposite—wide open, hollow (Etymonline, 2020). The above ground flowers spread their seeds, cross-pollinate, and burst forth (Mayers, 1983). The cleistogamous flowers mature under the earth during late summer and fall, reaching inside themselves to reproduce, their solitary asexual seedpods opening into the darkness (Mayers, 1983).


             Its cleistogamous flowers are small, pale like the moon, later their three lobed seedpods filled of neat pearls. Dig your hands deep under their roots, gently lift them from the darkness and you will see. These underground flowers bloom when the days grow longer in the late summer and fall, their sweet above ground nectar-filled sisters bloom before the bees come.


             Sweet violet spreads itself in a multitude of ways, asexually underground, reaching with their stolons, or bursting forth with tightly sprung ballasts (autochorous), or distributed by ants (myrmecochorous) (Beattie, 1975). Usually the above ground seeds are used to populate a new area, while stolons (or rhizomes) and the cleistogamous flowers’ seeds allow a single plant to spread (Wildseed). The above ground seedpods are a freckled purple, three lobed, and round protected by a little hat of transformed sepals (Grieves). The seeds have a soft appendage called an elaiosome, which provides nourishment for ants whom collect the seeds and carry them to their underground chambers to share with their community (Blankespoore). Sometimes the hungry ants destroy the seeds, other times the hill provides intact seeds fertile soil for growing a new plant.

Ants and Viola odorata have developed a partial mutual dependence, food in exchange for the spread of seeds, yet why does the violet need so many mechanisms to spread? Why do the chasmogomous flowers bloom often before the bees have a chance to wake up and taste their nectar? What of the subterranean flower? So many ways because this little flower offers much nourishment after a long winter, its sweetness sought out by the slugs, the sparrows, pigeons, Lapland longspurs, mice, voles, Argynnis caterpillars, the nimble fingers of children, lovers, and the budding herbalist or forager (Beattie, 1975). It must close itself to the world to ensure its continuance, blooming into an entombed white flower for its own survival and perhaps pleasure. These words roll around in my mouth: κλειστός (kleistos)… and cloistered, the latter coming from old French “cloitre” and Latin “claustrum” the place to shut in, enclose, bolt, close. In Greek when you ask, “turn off the light” the same verb is used “κλειστός,” to close. A place of no light, but not a place without growth (Etymonline).

In Andrea Büttner’s work, she gives a camera to nuns inside a Catholic convent to document their small craft projects:Perhaps the cleistogamous violet only sends out its colorful flowers as small attempt of survival—alike to the way the nuns must open up to the outside world in little ways to survive. Perhaps it prefers its self-fertilization, but knows it needs to occasionally diversify, to send out those flirtatious flowers to attract a rare bee. Or perhaps its deep purple flowers are a small gift, a “little work” to the bees, the slug, the lover, the child. Closure, gathering in, away from the curious eye and the chaotic world. When we dive inward, we uproot the muck that surrounds getting to the littlest thing, the darkest thing, the queer thing, the divine, the heart of the matter. The sweet violet exists in two dimensions; the hermetic, the underworld; and the sensual, nourishing spring.

In another work by Büttner, she asks two women from the Little Sisterhood of Jesus, “What does it mean to be little?” Their dialogue wanders and turns like a rivers path, speaking of spirituality, beauty, and spectacle, but ends up with littleness meaning humbleness before what they see as bigger than them (God), a modesty and simplicity that brings them towards equanimity (Bryan-Wilson). The cleistagamous flower of Violata odorata grows always smaller than its colorful chasmogamous sister yet is more consistent in its fertilization and formation of eggs, showing how the little things count.

The violet’s flowers have been used for centuries around the world. Eclectic and other early western American herbalists have for the most part dismissed the gentle yet profound effect of this unassuming plant, perhaps dissuaded by the easiness of identification and use, and its gentleness in action, perhaps it is too colored by its queer associations, and naïve connections. However the old folk knew its many good qualities, its use celebrated since ancient Greece, and Avicenna’s time. The family Violaceae appears in old European folk tales, in Iroquois legends, Greek mythology, Shakespeare’s plays, and Sappho’s poems. Its English name violetis derived from Io, a priestess of Hera’s that Zeus fell in love with and turned into a heifer to avoid the wrath of his wife Hera. As a little gift, Zeus created violets to bring some sweetness to Io’s new mundane life as a cow (Gerard).

The above ground flowers are deep velvety shade of purple, two pairs of opposite petals overlap towards the fifth central petal. The lower pair has fine white filaments that caress the bees that are lucky to enter to meet a green tipped stigma full of nectar. The fifth petal is veined with deep purple, contrasting with the pale interior of the flower’s cup. The petals gather up into a spur in the back of the flower, clasped by rounded purple speckled sepals, rising up from a single hollow stock (Grieves). These purple flowers have many uses other than cow forage. Athenians and Siksikaitsitapi, among other cultures, used the flowers to make a brilliant blue dye. Gerard mentions that they are used for hot inflammations in most parts of the body, for fevers, pleurisy, and coughs. It can be used to test acids and alkali in Litmus tests. The flowers made into a syrup with sugar are used as a gentle laxative for children (Moore). Pliny used garlands of violet flowers around the head to counter the “fumes of wine and prevent headache and dizziness” (Grieves), this use earlier mentioned by Plato in his Symposium on Love when the young drunk lover of Agathon disrupts the sober discussion on love adorned with a crown of violets (Reeves). Older folk uses include the flowers in recipes for beauty, steeped in goat’s milk by the Celtics, or in cosmetics by the British (Grieves). The flowers carry their scent into any kind of preparation, the Romans used it in wine, but it is also traditionally infused with vinegar for a beautiful blue condiment (Gerard). The fragile scent of violets is used in perfumes, concentrated into sugar syrups, and infused into oil.





Violet flowers have since ancient times symbolized beauty, love, and its ephemerality, the fragrant scent of these wild flowers quickly wilting and fading. For this it has been written into myths and literature as symbolic of death as well, especially of the young. Perhaps it guards against death as well as announces it, in Macer’s Herbal, he mentions it as one of the herbs used against “wykked spirits” (Grieves). In Irish folklore however, violets blooming in autumn are an omen of death (Allen). Similarly in Shakespeare’s play Hamlet, Ophelia foreshadows her early death mentioning, “I would give you some violets, but they withered all when my father died” (Shakespeare). Later her grave is carpeted with violets. On the other hand there is repeated mention for its symbolism associated to love, and similarly has been used in European traditions as a heart tonic, and given the common name, Heartsease. In Shakespeare’s play A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Oberon pours a magical preparation of Love-In-Idleness or Viola tricolor into Tatiana’s eyes, when she wakes she falls in love with the first person she sees: the ass-headed Bottom (Shakespeare). The poet Sappho of ancient Greece used violets to symbolize bridesmaids and goddesses—perhaps speaking of a divine beauty and youth—and adorned her lovers with crowns of violets. It is fitting that flower with its opposing blooming of above and underground flowers would symbolize such contradictory things; death, love, beauty, tangled into its roots. 
Its above ground leaves and flowers offer themselves up to the passing predation, allowing herbalists and foragers of present and past to gather their humble fruits. When picking leaves, new ones always grow, seems like this plant always has a back up plan due to its many admirers. The leaves are heart shaped, gently teethed and creased, with a slight fuzz. They rise up alternately from the underground stems or rhizomes in neatly curled tubes two at a time (Grieves). The shape of the providing a doctrine of signature for its name and use—heart’s ease—indicating their soothing affect to the nervous system, and the heart, especially in hot and dry conditions. The leaves are cool and moist, and are used as a gentle alterative, moving lymph like a wandering river. When lymph nodes are swollen and tissues feel dry and hot, think of violet as a calmly flowing river clearing stuck debris from the riverbanks.


Softness, add it to a little bit of honey and melt away the toughness, the callus wherever it may be, a hardened heart, the heat of a forgotten argument, or worn hands. The leaves used for any kind of hardness inside or out. Folk uses include using leaves as a poultice and internally for cancerous growths and fibroids, perhaps causing benefit, but may have been acting only to soothe inflamed and hot growths (Allen). Abscesses, rashes, wounds, swellings, bites, boils, ulcers, corns, herpes, conjunctivitis all those that are hot and inflamed are said to be soothed by a honey poultice of compress of the leaves (Vaughan). “The stems, after being stripped of their leaves, [are] pounded to extract the gummy yellow juice. This [is] applied externally as a remedy for fever after it had been boiled and strained” by Cherokee people (Perry, 60). Gerard likes it as a cooling plaster or poultice, he mixed it barley flour or soaked them in water. Hildegard wrote it will “dissolve hardnesses” in the body, this gentle river wearing down stones, no matter how strong. Hildegard suggests making an oil infusion to clear cloudy eyes when anointed on the eyelids overnight (Allen). Taa-laha-wa Dee-ni' chew Viola bicolor as poultice for eye ailments as well (NAEB).  An infusion of violets can be used as eyewash for dry, strained, or irritated eyes, or as a nasal rinse; add a ¼ teaspoon salt per 8 ounces of strained tea (Mcdonald).  The leaves of violets are rich in minerals, 100 grams contains 264 mg of Vitamin C and 20,000 IU of vitamin A, and 264 g of salicylic acid (Vaughan). Infusing fresh or dried violet leaf can be a nutrient rich beverage for those needing a little more greens and sunshine in their life. It may also be used this way for mouth ulcers, gingivitis, and herpes when steeped overnight. This infusion calms the nerves, and has been studied for its use in insomnia. It softens and moistens mucous in bronchitis, as well as soothes inflamed tissues and clears stuck lymph in sinus and ear infections. It coats the stomach by moistening the digestive tract, sometimes so much so that it sometimes causes prompt and smooth bowel movements. Infused oil can be used topically for hemorrhoids or sitz baths for the same (Vaughan). The Cherokee use a poultice of Viola bicolor for headaches and as an infusion for diarrhea, colds, or as “blood medicine” (NAEB). The above ground parts of the violet family are more known for its use as a gently moistening, nutritive alterative, fluid moving, and clearing stuck heat remedy.

The part of the plant that is not often used is the underground parts; the roots, rhizomes, and cleistogamous flowers and seeds. These hidden parts can be toxic in large amounts, but have some history of use in Western Herbalism as a drop dose herb and in indigenous American use as a poultice. Strong and sometimes toxic herbs have their place in most herbal medicine traditions, small parts of these herbs being used to enhance formula actions, as counterirritants topically, or to cause purges to clear stubborn conditions. Scudder writes that a tincture prepared of the whole plant, “stimulates waste and secretion, relieves nervous irritability, and improves nutrition” with dosage ranging from a fraction of a drop to ten drops (Scudder, 861). The roots contain a constituent that is an emetic and has been used for fevers, coughs, and sore feet. A syrup is made from the roots as an expectorant for coughs. The dosage for fevers that need to be cooled down, respiratory issues, and for expectoration is 5-15 drops for Viola odorata and 5-25 drops if using Viola tricolor (Vaughan). For sore, hot, inflamed feet (perhaps for diabetic feet issues) crush dried or fresh root and steep it in vinegar and apply the poultice (Vaughan). In King’s American Dispensatory, he states, “The roots of these plants are bitterish and slightly acrid, and in doses of from eight to ten grains are tonic; from twenty to thirty grains, purgative; and from forty to sixty grains, emetic” (Kings, 861). In indigenous American usage, the Siksikaitsitapi use the roots and leaves of Viola adunca topically in an infusion for swollen and sore joints (NAEB). Pliny similarly suggests a liniment of the root for issues of the spleen and for gout (Grieves). In high doses the roots and above ground seeds can cause high blood pressure, respiratory irregularities, and vomiting (Vaughan). Nothing is mentioned about the cleistogamous flowers and seeds, perhaps they were not differentiated from the roots when used, or perhaps their use is still to be uncovered.

Seeds seem to be primarily of a myrmeco, or ant, delicacy; however the use of seeds is mentioned in a few instances. Gerard claims the seeds fight the poison of scorpions. According to Grieves, they have been used in urinary issues, for kidney stones, and as a purgative and diuretic.

As a traditional Unani Tibb herb, Iranian researchers merged the traditional with the modern in their study of its medicinal uses in clinical trials. Clinical trials from Iran are almost poetic in their study of violets, in one “fresh violets were collected from heights of Kiasar town in Mazandaranprovince, Iran. These flowers grow naturally in this area and are not cultivated by humans” (Feyzabadi, 2018). Others purchase the violets in the market, or traveled to all corners of Iran to gather the flowers. In a two week, double-blind placebo-controlled trial, a dried alcohol extract of Violata odorata, Echium amoenum, and Physalis alkekengi was used for volunteers with benign prostate hyperplasia. IPSS scores (nocturia, incomplete urination, frequency, intermittency, urgency, weak flow) were significantly improved in the herbal extract group compared to the placebo group, also prostate volume and urine volume decreased (Beiraghdar, 2017). BPH is a hot and dry inflammatory state of the prostate, which may be why this formula with Viola odorata worked. Interestingly, a decoction of Viola canadensis is used by Ojibwa people for bladder pain (NAEB, 2020). Another clinical trial was done using a traditional Iranian method taken from Gharabadin Kabir’s Persian pharmaceutical manuscript, which was written in 1772 AD. The recipe called for violet flowers extracted in almond oil with a 1:2 concentration, which was infused through pressurization. Volunteers were separated into three groups; violet and almond oil, almond oil, and placebo. Each participant was told to take 2 drops of selected oil every night to help with insomnia. Of the three groups, the violet oil stood out as the most effective for insomnia, 72.7% of the VO group improved, while in the placebo less than 16% felt positive effects (Feyzabadi, 2018). Traditional, age-old recipes held up in these sophisticated in-vivo trials.

The stream floats by, cooling, softening the edges of heat, of hardness. Veiled is its dark sister, queer little thing multiplying in its dark tomb. The flower essence of violet bridges the need for security in isolation, with the need for being a part of social groups, violet people may be shy and introverted, needing a lot of alone time, they may be sensitive and overly receptive of the world. If angered, this person may have outbursts or may keep that anger tamped down to form a dense hard knot. All the isolation may cause loneliness, and this essence can relieve this and allow them to appreciate stillness and silence. The hidden flower does the hard work of self-actualization, while the colorful exterior flower greets the world and shows off that inner work. Violet people know multitudes about the hidden; it is an essence for those who have to walk between the worlds. Violets have graced the lips and pens of queer writers since ancient times, first Sappho, then later in the 1926 play The Captive where one woman sends another violets, the play was censored for its lesbian content (Prager, 2020) cementing the flower into its queer symbolic role. Ann Carson’s translation of Sappho’s poetry tries to decipher the hidden language of queer love, perhaps the definitions must hold space for all the possibilities; kolpos as “bosom, lap, womb, [a fold], any hollow” this opening, this chasmo with purple, with darkness spread across that opening. The enigmatic nature of the cleistogamous flower reflects the closed nature of nuns and the closeted stories of queers. All seek to bring a simple light out of the darkness, small pearled seeds nestled in the dirt, the divine, or truth.


Specific indications:

Hot, tense, irritation. Hardness. Grief. Shyness. A person of two worlds.

Preparation and doses:

Tincture of fresh leaves and flowers 1:2 in 60% alcohol. 1-2 teaspoons up to 3 times per day. Syrup can be made of flowers with sugar. Tea can be prepared with fresh leaves and steeped overnight, or as dry infusion. I do not recommend use of underground parts unless you are trained in drop dose herbs. Poultice, eye wash, and nasal rinse can be made with standard infusion.

Head
Headache
Hangover
Cradlecap
Insomnia
Dizziness

Eyes
Conjunctivitis
Dry irritated eyes
Strained eyes
Cloudy vision

Heart
Nervousness
Stress
Grief
Sadness

Breath
Pleurisy
Coughs
Dry scratchy throat
Nasal dryness
Mouth ulcers
Gingivitis
Bronchitis

Skin
Dry skin
Ulcers
Boils
Bites
Corns
Abscesses
Rashes
Wounds
Fibroids
Swellings
Herpes

Immune
Hot swollen lymph
Fever

Genitourinary
BPH
Painful urination
Pelvic congestion
Fibroids
Hemorrhoids
Kidney stones

Bone
Achy swollen hot joints
Sore feet
Gout

GI
Constipation
Diarrhea
Atrophy
Leaky gut








Work cited:

Allen, David Elliston., and Gabrielle Hatfield. Medicinal Plants in Folk Tradition: an Ethnobotany             of Britain & Ireland. Timber Press, 2012

Beiraghdar, F., Einollahi, B., Ghadyani, A., Panahi, Y., Hadjiakhoondi, A., Vazirian, M., Salarytabar,         A., & Darvishi, B. (2017). A two-week, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of Viola        odorata, Echium amoenum and Physalis alkekengi mixture in symptomatic benign            prostate hyperplasia (BPH) men. Pharmaceutical biology, 55(1), 1800–1805.     https://doi.org/10.1080/13880209.2017.1328445

Birkett , Richard. “Andrea Büttner: The Shame of Culture.” Andrea Buttner, www.andreabuettner.com/files/map23pp26-28.pdf.

Beattie, A. J., & Lyons, N. (1975). SEED DISPERSAL IN VIOLA (VIOLACEAE): ADAPTATIONS AND          STRATEGIES. American Journal of Botany, 62(7), 714–722. doi:10.1002/j.1537-   2197.1975.tb14104.x

Blankespoor, Juliette. “Even Violets Need a Plan B.” Chestnut School of Herbal Medicine, 16 Oct. 2019, chestnutherbs.com/even-violets-need-a-plan-b/.

Blankespoor, Juliette. “Spring Ephemerals and Elaiosomes.” Chestnut School of Herbal Medicine, 16 Oct. 2019, chestnutherbs.com/spring-ephemerals-and-elaiosomes/.

Brian-Wilson, Julia. Andrea Büttner's Little Queer Thing. www.parkettart.com/downloadable/download/sample/sample_id/470.

Cloister | Origin and Meaning of Cloister by Online ... www.etymonline.com/word/cloister.

Culver, D. C., & Beattie, A. J. (1980). THE FATE OF VIOLA SEEDS DISPERSED BY ANTS. American        Journal of Botany, 67(5), 710–714. doi:10.1002/j.1537-2197.1980.tb07701.x

Feyzabadi, Z., Rezaeitalab, F., Badiee, S., Taghipour, A., Moharari, F., Soltanifar, A., & Ahmadpour, M. R. (2018). Efficacy of Violet oil, a traditional Iranian formula, in patients with chronic insomnia: A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study. Journal of Ethnopharmacology, 214, 22–28.doi:10.1016/j.jep.2017.11.036                                              

Feyzabadi, Z., Jafari, F., Kamali, S. H., Ashayeri, H., Badiee Aval, S., Esfahani, M. M., &

Sadeghpour, O. (2014). Efficacy of Viola odorata in Treatment of Chronic Insomnia. Iranian Red Crescent medical journal,16(12), e17511.https://doi.org/10.5812/ircmj.17511

Gerard's Herbal - CHAP. 313. Of Violets. - Exclassics.com. exclassics.com/herbal/herbalv30139.htm.

Grieves, Maude. “Violet, Sweet.” A Modern Herbal | Violet, Sweet, botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/v/vioswe12.html.

King, John, and John Uri Lloyd. The American Dispensatory. Wilstach & Baldwin & Co., 1870. Page 861

Mayers, A. M., & Lord, E. M. (1983). COMPARATIVE FLOWER DEVELOPMENT IN THE CLEISTOGAMOUS SPECIES VIOLA ODORATA. II. AN ORGANOGRAPHIC STUDY. American Journal of Botany, 70(10), 1556–1563. doi:10.1002/j.1537-2197.1983.tb10859.x

Mayers, A. M., & Lord, E. M. (1983). COMPARATIVE FLOWER DEVELOPMENT IN THE CLEISTOGAMOUS SPECIES VIOLA ODORATA. I. A GROWTH RATE STUDY. American   Journal of Botany, 70(10), 1548–1555. doi:10.1002/j.1537-2197.1983.tb10858.x  

Mcdonald, Jim. “Violet Herb.” HerbalRemediesAdvice.org, www.herbalremediesadvice.org/violet-herb.html.

Moore, Michael. “HERBAL MATERIA MEDICA.” South West School of Botanical Medicine, 1995, www.swsbm.com/ManualsMM/MatMed5.pdf.

“NAEB, Native American Ethnobotany Database.” BRIT, naeb.brit.org/.

Ophelia (detail), Sir John Everett Millais, Ophelia, 1851-52, oil on canvas, 762 x 111.8 cm (Tate                Britain, London)

Perry, Myra Jean, 1975, Food Use of 'Wild' Plants by Cherokee Indians, The University of             Tennessee, M.S. Thesis. Retrieved from: http://www.swsbm.com/Ethnobotany/MissouriValley-Gilmore-1.pdf

Prager, Sarah. “Four Flowering Plants That Have Been Decidedly Queered.” JSTOR Daily, 2020, daily.jstor.org/four-flowering-plants-decidedly-queered/.

Reeve, C. D. C. (n.d.). 6. A Study in Violets: Alcibiades in the Symposium. Retrieved from                   https://chs.harvard.edu/CHS/article/display/6261.6-a-study-in-violets-alcibiades-in-the-       symposium-c-d-c-reeve

Rose, Kiva. “Violet.” The Enchanter's Green, enchantersgreen.com/violet.

Sappho, Carson, A., & Holzer, J. (2019). If not, winter: fragments of Sappho. London: The Folio   Society.  Retrieved from: https://www.docdroid.net/mIRAj3W/sappho-anne-carson-transl-if-not-winter-fragments-of-sappho-2003.pdf#page=384

Scupham-Bilton, T. (1970, January 1). Flower Power- violets. Retrieved from                                                           https://queerstoryfiles.blogspot.com/2012/04/flower-power-violets.html

Sir John Everett Millais, Ophelia (article). (n.d.). Retrieved from                   https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/becoming-modern/victorian-art-architecture/pre-raphaelites/a/sir-john-everett-millais-ophelia

Violet. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://onewillowapothecaries.com/product/violet/

Violet. (2013, February 26). Retrieved from https://feedingthemuse.net/botanical-lore/violet/

Viola odorata – Sweet Violet. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://wildseed.co.uk/species/view/249

“Viola Odorata.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 1 Mar. 2020, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viola_odorata..

Violet Herb.” HerbalRemediesAdvice.org, www.herbalremediesadvice.org/violet-herb.html.

Vaughan, Karen. “Violets.” Henriette's Herbal Homepage, Medicinal Herblist , 1997, www.henriettes-herb.com/articles/viola.html.

“Viola Odorata Pg. 266.” Specific Medication and Specific Medicines, by John M. Scudder, Eclectic Medical Publications, 1988.