Viola tricolor, SE: Styvmorsviol, DE: Wildes Stiefmütterchen,
NL: Driekleurig viooltje, UK: Wild Pansy, Heartsease

Scientific name:  Viola tricolor L.
Swedish name:  Styvmorsviol
German name:  Wildes Stiefmütterchen
Nederlandse naam:  Driekleurig viooltje
English name:  Wild Pansy, Heartsease, Johnny Jump-Ups
Family:  Violaceae, Violet family, Violväxter

Flowers in Sweden

Life form:  Annual, biennial and at times a short-lived perennial
Stems:  Height 8–25 cm, ascending–erect, usually branched, glabrous
Leaves:  ovate to lanceolate, dentate or serrate
Flowers:  Purple, blue, yellow or white
Flowering Period:  April, May, June, July, August, September, October
Fruits:  3-valved capsule
Habitat:  Coast, farmland, pastureland, settlements

Vilda blommor i Sverige: Viola tricolor, Styvmorsviol, Wildes Stiefmütterchen, Driekleurig viooltje, Wild Pansy, Heartsease


Derivation of the botanical name:
Viola a classical Latin name for violets.
tricolor, tri, "three" and color, "color", 3 colored.
  • The standard author abbreviation L. is used to indicate Carl Linnaeus (1707 – 1778), a Swedish botanist, physician, and zoologist, the father of modern taxonomy.
Pollen grains with 4 pores.
Viola tricolor is sometimes difficult to delimit from Viola arvensis, and especially from hybrids with this species.Sometimes the average number of pores on the pollen grains should be investigated.

  • John Gerard (1545 – 1611/12) considered Viola tricolor "of a temperature obscurely cold, but more evidently moist, of a tough and flimie juice...for which cause it moistneth and suppleth...."
  • John K'Eogh (c.1681-1754), wrote in his Irish Herball (1735) that Viola tricolor flowers "cure convulsions in children, cleanse the lungs and breast, and are very good against fever, internal inflammation and wounds."
  • In Western herbal medicine Viola tricolor is used as anti-inflammatory , antirheumatic, diuretic, expectorant, laxative, and stabalizes capillary membranes.

  • Vilda blommor i Sverige: Viola tricolor, Styvmorsviol, Wildes Stiefmütterchen, Driekleurig viooltje, Wild Pansy, Heartsease


    Wild Flowers of Sweden