Parts used: grass.
Pharmacy name: fragrant violet herb – Violae odoratae herba (formerly: Herba Violae odoratae).
Botanical description. A perennial plant with a creeping growing rhizome, from which flower stalks and shoots capable of taking root depart. Leaves petiolate, heart-shaped. Single flowers are painted in a deep purple color, less often – white or reddish, with a pleasant smell; sometimes there are small stipules on the peduncle. The fruit is a capsule with small seeds. Blooms from March to April (May). It grows near fences, in hedges and on forest edges.
Collection and preparation. The grass is harvested during flowering and air dried.
Active ingredients: saponins, bitterness, glycoside, salicylic acid methyl ester and odoratin, which acts as a blood pressure lowering agent.
Healing action and application. Violet grass is used for sore throats, bronchitis with poorly separated sputum and for blood purification. Very popular as an emollient for whooping cough, as well as a cure for all kinds of skin diseases. It is taken orally in the form of tea, also used as lotions on the skin.
- Violet tea: Pour 2 teaspoons of herbs into 1/4 liter of water, bring to a boil and leave for 5 minutes. After straining, drink 2-3 times every day for a cup (when coughing, sweeten with honey). For rinses and skin lotions, use undiluted.
Use in homeopathy. From a fresh flowering plant (without roots) a homeopathic product Viola odorata is prepared, which is used for earache, rheumatic joint diseases, asthma and whooping cough, also for skin cleansing. The initial tincture is obtained, but the agent is used in medium dilutions D 1 and D6, 5-8 (up to 15) drops several times every day.
Application in folk medicine.In folk medicine, fragrant violet tea is used to purify the blood and for dry bronchitis. In the latter case, syrup is preferred. o Violet syrup: 1 full cup of fresh violet herb is placed in a bottle, poured into it with 1/4 liter of hot water and insisted for a day, then filtered. The filtered liquid is drained, heated to a boil, a new portion (1 full cup) of violet flowers is added and again left for 24 hours. The resulting infusion after straining is mixed with honey in equal proportions and given to children 1 teaspoon for cough. Sometimes violet flowers are prescribed as a means to calm the nerves. They must be very fresh, and eat them with orange jam. Sebastian Kneipp strongly recommended violet for coughs and lung diseases, for shortness of breath and dizziness, for sore throat (as a gargle); for gout (bumps at the base of the joint of the thumb), he offered a decoction of violets in vinegar as a compress. Side effects are not to be feared.