Heartsease

(Viola tricolour L., Violaceae)

Also Called: Wild Pansy, Love- Lies- Bleeding, Herb Trinitatis.

Description: Annual plant up to 35cm (14in) high.
Leaves very variable, 4-10cm (1.5-4in) long, cordate to lanceolate, margin deeply dentate.
Stem leaves always with deeply dissected lyre-shaped stipules.
Flower petals yellow or multi-coloured.
Herbalists prefer the latter,
Flowering: May-August.

Part Used: Dried flowering plant or (for domestic use) the dried entire plant including roots.

Habitat, Cultivation and Collection: A weed of cultivated and waste ground and short grassland.
Found throughout Britain.
Frequently cultivated in gardens from seed sown in March-April and producing different flower colours.
Collected when in flower and dried as rapidly as possible in the shade.

Constituents and Action: Saponins, derivatives of salicylic acid and flavonoids in all parts of the plant.
It is a diuretic, febrifuge and sudorific, used for catarrh and rheumatism.

Usage: Internally almost always as a tisane (boil 2 tablespoonfuls of finely chopped drug with 0.5 litre (1 pt) of water and allow to stand) for generalised oedema (dropsy, etc.) and catarrhs of the respiratory tract;
for skin eruptions in children and in adults, the internal action being reinforced by the external application of compresses of the same infusion.
Also used for rheumatism, especially of the joints, accompanied by fever, the above dose being taken twice daily.