Viola tricolor. A European wildflower with a long history of mythological and medicinal associations. Common names include: Wild pansy, Love-in-idleness, Love-lies-bleeding, Johnny jump up, Heart's delight, Tickle-my-fancy, Come-and-cuddle-me, Three faces in a hood, Stepmother—and many more.

The flowers are edible—strew them on salads or yogurt. They also make lovely cake decorations. Medicinally, viola tricolor is associated with skin conditions and epilepsy.

A prime ingredient in love potions from Greek and Roman times, Heartsease is the magical flower that Oberon uses to sow comic confusion in A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

A little western flower / Before milk-white, now purple with love’s wound / And maidens call it love-in-idleness.” (Act II, Scene 1.)

“On sleeping eyelids laid, Will make or man or woman madly dote upon the next live creature that it sees."