# Heartsease (Viola tricolor)

**Viola tricolor*; love-in-idleness, pansy*

**Known today as.** *Viola tricolor*, the wild pansy of fields and banks, purple, white, and yellow.

Kind: Plant

## What was it used for?

For the skin, for scald-head and eruptions in children; for the chest; and, by its name, for the heart.

## What does modern science say?

Still approved in German herbal practice for mild skin complaints applied outwardly; little trial evidence.

## Pharmacognosy and toxicology

- **salicylates**: methyl salicylate glycosides
- **rutin**: up to 0.4 per cent
- **violanthin**: 
- **mucilage**: 10 per cent
- **cyclotides**: small cyclic peptides

**Mechanism.** The salicylates and flavonoids are mildly anti-inflammatory and the mucilage soothes, which is the skin use; the cyclotides are cytotoxic peptides of research interest. Nothing acts on the heart; the name is from the face of the flower.

**Dose.** Safe; large doses of the saponin-bearing herb vomit.

**Standing.** EMA monograph (2011) for mild seborrhoeic skin conditions, used on the skin and as tea, on tradition.

## What lore surrounds it?

It is Shakespeare’s love-in-idleness: in *A Midsummer Night’s Dream* Oberon squeezes its juice on sleeping eyes so that they dote on the first creature they see on waking.

## What did the older authorities say?

**Its names.** “Pansy” comes from the French *pensée*, thought; the flower was given for remembrance.

## Sources

- Shakespeare, W., *A Midsummer Night’s Dream* II.i.
- Grieve, M. (1931). *A Modern Herbal*, “Heartsease.”
- EMA/HMPC (2011). *Community herbal monograph on Viola tricolor L. and/or subspecies, herba cum flore* (EMA/HMPC/131734/2009).
- Göransson, U., et al. (1999). “Seven novel macrocyclic polypeptides from *Viola arvensis*.” *Journal of Natural Products* 62.

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*Heartsease.* In *Materia Medica*, edited by B. C. P. Statema. Version 1, revised 2026-09-30. The Thinking Press. https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/heartsease

Historical description, not medical advice.