What is wild pansy?

Wild pansy is an annual perennial herb. Wild pansy has many forms. In general the foliage of wild pansy is much more cut up and the stem is more branched than other species. The leaves of wild pansy are deeply cut into rounded lobes. The flowers can have different colours, ranging from purple to white. Mostly the flowers have a combination of purple, yellow and white (this explains the latin name tricolor).

Parts used

The whole aboveground wild pansy herb is collected and dried.

Phytochemicals

These are typical phytochemicals found in wild pansy: the important phytochemicals of wild pansy are violutoside, rutin, violanthin, scoparin, orientin, violaxnathin, triterpene saponins, methyl-salicylic acid, flavonoids, tannins, coumarin.

Benefits of wild pansy

Wild pansy has been used to treat skin diseases, eczema, asthma and epilepsy and asthma. It was also believed that the flowers wild pansy were good for the heart, hence its popular name of heartsease. Today, wild pansy is used to treat eczema, acne, pruritus and impetigo.

The triterpenes, salicylates and flavonoids are responsible for the anti-inflammatory action of wild pansy.

Other facts

Wild pansy originates from Europe and Asia. The flower of wild pansy protects itself from rain and cold by dropping its head so that only the back of the flower will get wet.

Other names

Wild pansy, love-lies-bleeding, bullweed, banwort, pense.