A perennial herbaceous plant of the violet family without a developed aerial stem. It has a creeping rhizome and rooted shoots that bloom only in the second year. Leaves in a basal rosette, simple, rounded or ovate-heart-shaped, short-pubescent, toothed-serrated on the edge, with ovate, rarely lanceolate, pointed or sometimes acuminate, pointed stipules; the tips do not exceed 1/2 the width of the stipules, sometimes finely filiform. The flowers are axillary, bisexual, irregular, very fragrant, on long stems, with a five-petalled corolla; petals are purple, whitish at the very base, often notched at the top; the spur is blunt. The fruit is a box. Blooms from April to mid-May.
Distribution . Fragrant violet grows throughout the territory of Ukraine in forests, among shrubs.
Procurement and storage . For medicinal purposes, flowering plants are harvested together with rhizomes and roots. The collected raw materials are dried under cover in the open air or in a well-ventilated room, spread out on fabric or paper in a thin layer. Ready raw materials are stored in well-closed cans or cans.
The plant is unofficial.
Chemical composition. All parts of the plant contain essential oil, saponins, alkaloids, flavonoids, salicylic and other phenolic acids and other compounds.
Pharmacological properties and use. Fragrant violet deserves attention as a remedy that has expectorant, antiseptic, anti-inflammatory, diuretic, laxative and weak hypotensive properties. In large doses, violet products cause vomiting. As an expectorant and secretolytic agent, violet products are used for whooping cough, acute and chronic bronchitis, and pulmonary tuberculosis. Diuretic and salt-reducing properties are used for kidney stone disease, gout, polyarthritis, and some heart diseases accompanied by edema. To enhance the therapeutic effect, violet is often used in a mixture with other medicinal plants that have diuretic properties. A positive therapeutic effect is also observed in hysteria, palpitations, nervous excitement and insomnia (sedative effect). Reports of cases of successful treatment with an infusion of violet leaves for certain oncological diseases (cancer of the tongue, larynx, throat, and stomach) deserve special attention. As an external remedy, violet infusion is an effective remedy for herpes simplex (lubricating blisters) and in the case of catarrhal phenomena of the oropharynx (rinsing).
Medicinal forms and applications .
Internally – infusion in cold water (infuse 2 teaspoons of raw material for 8 hours in 200 ml of cold boiled water, strain) a quarter of a glass 4 times a day;
hot infusion (infuse 2 tablespoons of raw materials for 2 hours in 400 ml of boiling water, strain) half a glass 4 times a day.
Externally – lubrication and rinsing with infusion (prepared as in the previous prescription). The inherent toxic properties of fragrant violets force you to be careful when using it.