The Medicinal Herb Info site was created to help educate visitors about the often forgotten wisdom of the old ways of treating illnesses. Many of today's drugs and medicines were originally derived from natural ingredients, combinations of plants and other items found in nature.

We are not suggesting that you ignore the help of trained medical professionals, simply that you have additional options available for treating illnesses. Often the most effective treatment involves a responsible blend of both modern and traditional treatments.

We wish you peace and health!

Pansy

Scientific Names

Pansy

  • Viola tricolor L.
  • Violaceae
  • Violet family

Common Names

  • Butterfly flower
  • Cull me to you
  • Garden violet
  • Heart’s-Ease
  • Johnny jumper
  • Johnny-jump-up
  • Love-in-idleness
  • Pancies
  • Stepmother
  • Three faces in a hood

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Parts Usually Used

Leaves
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Pansy

Description of Plant(s) and Culture

The pansy is an annual plant; the soft, angular, hollow stem, 4-12 inches high, bears alternate, ovate to lanceolate, toothed leaves on the lower part of the plant. Stipules are large, leaflike, and strongly divided. The solitary, axillary flowers may be yellow, blue, violet, or two-colored, the flowering time is from March to October.
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Where Found

Widely cultivated as a garden ornamental but is also found wild in fields and meadows, heaths, moors, sunny banks, and along the edges of forests in North America, northern Asia, and Europe.
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Medicinal Properties

Anodyne, demulcent, diaphoretic, diuretic, expectorant, laxative, vulnerary
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Biochemical Information

Mucilage, salicylic acid, saponins, a flavonic glycoside called violaquercetin
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Legends, Myths and Stories

Although pansy is known as heart’s ease, there is another herb known as heart’s ease or lady’s thumb (Polygonum persicaria L.). Lady’s thumb is of the buckwheat family and has no similarity whatsoever to the pansy.

Legend has it that the flowers, originally white, were turned purple by one of Cupid’s arrows, thus the basal leaves are heart-shaped.

Used medicinally since ancient times; once used in love potions, hence the name of heart’s ease.
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Uses

An infusion of Pansy is useful for skin eruptions, diarrhea, and urinary problems, fevers, mild sedative, blood purifier, asthma, heart palpitations, jaundice, gout, rheumatic problems, arteriosclerosis, high blood pressure, dry throat, pleurisy, itch, cough, blemished skin, psoriasis, acne, sebhorrheic skin (scaly) diseases, cradle cap in infants and children, convulsions, epilepsy, sores, ulcers, varicose veins, prevents colds, bedwetting, retinal hemorrhages, tendency to bruise easily, hives, diaper rash, nervous complaints, hysteria, chest congestion, lung inflammations, and cramps in children. The dried and powdered plant can be applied to wounds or made into a salve with honey for external use.
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Formulas or Dosages

Harvest while flowering.

Infusion: steep 1 to 2 tsp. plant in 1/2 cup boiling water. Take 1 cup a day, a mouthful at a time.

Cold extract: soak 2 to 4 tsp. plant in 1 cup cold water for 8 hours. Take 1 cup a day, a mouthful at a time.
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Warning

Contains saponins; may be toxic in larger doses. May induce nausea and vomiting.

Excessive doses or prolonged, continuous use can lead to skin problems.
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Bibliography

Buy It! American Folk Medicine, by Clarence Meyer, Meyerbooks, publisher, PO Box 427, Glenwood, Illinois 60425, 1973

Buy It! The Complete Medicinal Herbal, by Penelope Ody, Dorling Kindersley, Inc, 232 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016, First American Edition, copyright 1993

Buy It! Culpeper’s Complete Herbal & English Physician: Updated With 117 Modern Herbs, by Nicholas Culpeper, Meyerbooks, publisher, PO Box 427, Glenwood, Illinois 60425, 1990, (reprint of 1814)

Buy It! Eastern/Central Medicinal Plants, by Steven Foster and James A. Duke., Houghton Mifflin Company, 215 Park Avenue South, New York, NY 10000

Herbal Gardening, compiled by The Robison York State Herb Garden, Cornell Plantations, Matthaei Botanical Gardens of the University of Michigan, University of California Botanical Garden, Berkeley., Pantheon Books, Knopf Publishing Group, New York, 1994, first edition

Buy It! The Healing Plants, by Mannfried Pahlow, Barron’s Educational Series, Inc. 250 Wireless Blvd., Hauppauge, NY 11788, 1992

Buy It! The Herb Book, by John Lust, Bantam Books, 666 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY. copyright 1974.

Buy It!The Magic of Herbs, by David Conway, published by Jonathan Cape, Thirty Bedford Square, London, England. (Out of print)

Buy It! The Nature Doctor: A Manual of Traditional and Complementary Medicine, by Dr. H.C.A. Vogel; Keats Publishing, Inc., 27 Pine Street (Box 876) New Canaan, CT. 06840-0876. Copyright Verlag A. Vogel, Teufen (AR) Switzerland 1952, 1991

Buy It! Planetary Herbology, by Michael Tierra, C.A., N.D., O.M.D., Lotus Press, PO Box 325, Twin Lakes. WI 53181., Copyright 1988, published 1992

Buy It! Webster’s New World Dictionary, Third College Edition, Victoria Neufeldt, Editor in Chief, New World Dictionaries: A Division of Simon & Schuster, Inc., 15 Columbus Circle, New York, NY 10023

Buy It! The Rodale Herb Book: How to Use, Grow, and Buy Nature’s Miracle Plants (An Organic gardening and farming book), edited by William H. Hylton, Rodale Press, Inc. Emmaus, PA, 18049., 1974

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