Wild Violets

One of the shyer flowers that heralds spring is the unobtrusive and humble violet. This purple beauty lends a tender color to your tea repertoire as well as many healthful vitamins and minerals. The leaves of violets contain fiber and vitamins A and C*. The flavor of the tea is very light and fresh with no discernible notes. It is said to be a spring tonic. Below is a simple recipe anyone can follow. Make sure you use your digital flower ID cards at the bottom, and the information included to help you identify your natural violets.

*You can also brew the leaves, but make sure the flower is present for accurate identification.

Identifying Safe Members of the Violaceae Family

Violets are very easy to find in your yard with their nodding little heads and heart-shaped leaves. The common blue violet (Viola sororia, Violaceae), as it indicates, is quite common. Violets are typically considered a weed, although it's been cultivated a purpose by the Greeks since 500 BC as a medicinal plant and garden flower. They grow in cool, moist, shady or partial shade areas and prefer a northern facing slope. They can be found in forests** near water sources, in yards, and even cracks in the sidewalks. Another more common violet cultivar in our southeastern region is the 'confederate violet' (Viola sororia priceana). This violet blooms earlier than the blue common violet, and has white flowers with blue streaks.

Please Note: Be careful when harvesting. Always harvest with an experienced adult. There are look a likes for violet leaves, so only harvest when there is a distinct violet flower apparent.

Violets Have:

Irregular flowers with 5 separate sepals and 5 separate petals where the lower petal is larger than the side and top petal 'pairs'.
Heart-shaped leaves (Some varieties, like the birdsfoot violet, have different shaped leaves; however, the varieties which we'll learn here will have these heart-shaped leaves.)
The leaves are either basal or alternate

Tip: My violets taste like soap!

Some plants and varieties contain constituents called 'saponins'. They have a very unpleasant soapy flavor. You can try taking younger, smaller leaves or avoid the plant and find a different one. Taste a little bit! Make sure your harvest energy hasn't gone to waste on a bunch of soapy leaves!

*To retain vitamin C, make sure violet tea is created with respect and don't use boiling water as this will damage the vitamin's value.

** Note that some species of woodland violets can be rare, so do not harvest these.

Note that the houseplant called African Violet is not part of Violet Family, it belongs to the Gesneriaceae family and is not edible.

Sharing is Caring! Snap a photo of your backyard violets, your brewed tea, or upload to Instagram with the #TeaCupGardenRoCo

Not sure if you've got violets? Upload your picture to the discussion board here and I'll help you identify.