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Cooling, moistening flower — Avicenna's go-to for dry cough and feverish heat.
Sharbat-e banafsheh (violet syrup) is a Persian household sore-throat remedy.
Common 'African violet' is a different plant — use Viola odorata only.
Known to botanists as Viola odorata.
Sweet violet is a low-growing perennial with heart-shaped basal leaves and small fragrant deep-purple (occasionally white) flowers borne on slender stalks in early spring. Both flower and leaf are used.
Family: Violaceae (violet family).
Dry coughs, restless nights, and tension headaches from over-heated days quietly compound. Violet is one of the rare herbs that soothes all three patterns with the same cooling, moistening signature — and folds easily into a Persian household tea or sharbat.
Dry mucous membranes, fragmented sleep, and tension headaches all become more common with age. Sweet violet's gentle moistening and cooling action — paired with rose, linden, or chamomile — is a traditional Persian evening ritual that addresses all three patterns without sedatives (medicines that make you sleepy).
Calming for restless sleep tied to heat.
Persian medicine considers sweet violet (بنفشه) cool and moist in the first degree — softening dryness, calming feverish heat, easing tension headaches, inviting sleep, and gently moving the bowels.
Dry, irritating cough and hoarse throat.
It was used: insomnia tied to heat and restlessness. Headaches from heat, sun, or mental strain.
Violet syrup (sharbat-e banafsheh) is a Persian household drink offered to children with sore throats and to elders on summer evenings. The flower is also a beloved Persian poetic symbol of modesty and renewal.
Sharbat-e banafsheh: classical Persian violet-flower syrup — flowers simmered in water with sugar, bottled, and diluted as needed.
Joulab-e banafsheh: heart-cooling drink of rosewater, violet syrup, and water for restless, hot temperaments.
Triple-cooling evening tea: violet + rose petals + linden in equal parts for restless sleep and tension headaches.
Vitamins: Vitamin C (leaves), Vitamin A (leaves)
Antioxidants: Anthocyanins (the natural colour pigments that make fruit red, purple or blue), Rutin, Quercetin (a plant compound found in onions, apples and tea)
Notable: Mucilage (soothing fiber), Salicylic acid (trace)
From laboratory work, not from people taking it
Anthocyanin pigments offer antioxidant activity.
Steep 1 tsp dried flowers in 1 cup hot water, covered 5–8 min, before bed.
Sharbat-e banafsheh — simmer flowers in water + sugar, bottle, dilute 1 Tbsp per glass.
Cold infusion (a drink made by steeping the plant in hot water) in summer — handful of flowers in cool water 4 h.
In the kitchen: compress: strong infusion soaked on a cloth, applied to the forehead. Sharbat: 1 Tbsp violet syrup in cool water for sore throat. Combine with rose petals + linden for a calming evening tea.
Identify the plant carefully — 'African violet' (Saintpaulia) is NOT the same and not edible.
Concentrated violet seed/root preparations are emetic — use only flower and leaf.
Rare allergic reactions; avoid concentrated essential oil (the concentrated aromatic oil of the plant) in pregnancy.
Known violet-family allergy.
Pregnancy — use food/sharbat amounts only, not concentrated extracts.
Salicylate sensitivity (rare).
Is the violet in florist bouquets the same plant?
Florist 'violets' are often pansies (Viola × wittrockiana) or African violets (Saintpaulia). Medicinal banafsheh is specifically Viola odorata, the small fragrant spring flower. Buy from an attari, herbal apothecary, or grow it from seed.
What is sharbat-e banafsheh?
It's a Persian violet syrup: flowers simmered with sugar and water, strained, and bottled. A tablespoon stirred into cool water makes a cooling, sore-throat-soothing drink that's part of the household summer apothecary.
End of the Sweet Violet guide