Distribution and habitat: A dry creeping perennial herb, native to Europe, Asia and N. Africa and N. America

Botany:  A dry creeping perennial herb, colour brownish, without any stem, consist of leaves and sometimes flowers, variegated, yellow, white, blue or purplish with long filiform stalks. 

• Leaves    :   Cordate at the base ,reniform or heart shaped and dentate at the upper part
• Flowers : Purple,Violet,blue ,pink and irregular .Carpels three nerved and brown . Corolla with a long , narrow tapering spur,which extends beyond the calyx.

Chemical constituents: Salicylic acid methyl ester, aodoratine, 2,2,6,6-tetramethyl-4-piperidinone, violacin A, vitamin C, cyclotides, and anthocyanins, Butyl-2-ethyl hexyl phthalate

Uses: It is useful in fever, syphilis, skin diseases and chronic diarrhoea. The leaf and flower of the plant are source of essential oil. 

Agrotechnology

Soil: Poor soils in partially shaded sloping meadows and woods

Propagation: Long -stalked rooting runners called stolons.