# Viola odorata

Viola odorata is a species of flowering plant in the family Violaceae native to Eurasia. The small hardy herbaceous perennial is commonly known as wood violet, sweet violet, English violet, common violet, florist's violet, or garden violet.

## Description

Viola odorata spreads with stolons (above-ground shoots). The plant reaches 15 centimetres (6 in) in height. The leaves and flowers are all in a basal rosette, and the leaf stalks have downward-pointing hairs. The leaves are kidney-shaped and reach 6 cm (2+1⁄2 in) long. The flowers are normally either dark violet or white and are scented. The style is hooked (and does not end with a rounded appendage). The perennial flowers mature when the plant is at a height of 4–6 in (10–15 cm) and a spread of 8–24 in (20–61 cm).

## Distribution and habitat

Viola odorata is native to Europe south of Scandinavia, northwest Africa (Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia), Macaronesia, the Caucasus, Western Asia, and Kazakhstan. It has been introduced to the Americas, Scandinavia, southern and eastern Asia, Australia, and New Zealand.
The species can be found near the edges of forests or in clearings; it is also a common "uninvited guest" in shaded lawns or elsewhere in gardens.

## Subspecies

Two subspecies are accepted.
* Viola odorata subsp. odorata – entire range
* Viola odorata subsp. stolonifera (J.J.Rodr.) J.J.Orell & Romo – Balearic Islands

### Chemistry

The plant contains the alkaloid violin, about 30 cyclotides, and triterpenoids, mostly as constituents of the essential oil.

## Uses

Several cultivars have been selected for garden use, of which V. odorata 'Wellsiana' has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.
The sweet scent of this flower has proved popular, particularly in the late Victorian period, and has consequently been used in the production of many cosmetic fragrances and perfumes. There is some doubt as to whether the true extract of the violet flower is still used commercially in perfumes. It was still used in the early 20th century, but by the time Steffen Arctander was writing in the late 1950s and early 1960s, production had "almost disappeared". Violet leaf absolute, however, remains widely used in modern perfumery.
The scent of violet flowers is distinctive with only a few other flowers having a remotely similar odor. References to violets and the desirable nature of the fragrance go back to classical sources such as Pliny and Horace when the name "Ion" was in use to describe this flower from which the name of the distinctive chemical constituents of the flower, the ionones, is derived. In 1923, W.A. Poucher wrote that the flowers were widely cultivated both in Europe and the East for their fragrance, with both the flowers and leaves being separately collected and extracted for fragrance, and flowers also collected for use in confectionery galenical syrup and in the production of medicine.
The leaves and flowers are edible. Real violet flower extract is available for culinary uses, especially in European countries. The French are known for their violet syrup, most commonly made from an extract of violets. In the United States, this French violet syrup is used to make violet scones and marshmallows.
The plant contains a cannabinoid peptide called "vodo-C1" that acts in vitro as a selective CB2 receptor agonist without CB1 activity.

## In culture

The violet flower was a favorite in ancient Greece and became the symbol of Athens. The scent suggested sex, so the violet was an emblematic flower of Aphrodite and of her son, Priapus, the deity of gardens and generation.
Iamus was a son of Apollo and the nymph Evadne. He was abandoned by his mother at birth. She left him lying in the Arkadian wilds on a bed of violets where he was fed honey by serpents. Eventually, he was discovered by passing shepherds who named him Iamus after the violet (ion) bed.
The goddess Persephone and her companion Nymphs were gathering rose, crocus, violet, iris, lily, and larkspur blooms in a springtime meadow when she was abducted by the god Hades.

## Gallery

* Form, with stolons visible
* White V. odorata