Eliza Doolittle sold violets for tuppence as did flower ladies in markets since time immemorial, Josephine Bonaparte's favorite scent was the violet, and the Parma violet from Italy is an iconic British violet flavored candy.
In the province of New Brunswick it is the Viola cucullata that is a treasured symbol. The flower was adopted as the New Brunswick floral emblem in 1936, at the request of the provincial Women's Institute, the Lieutenant Governor and New Brunswick schoolchildren. The Viola cucullata goes by other names such as the Hooded Blue Violet, Marsh Blue Violet, the long-stemmed marsh violet or Purple Violet, and in French by violette cucullée and violette dressée.
The Purple Violet is a perennial which flowers from May through July. Like most violets it is a low grower reaching 20 cm tall. The simple leaves form a basal cluster from which the five-petaled flowers rise above and bloom in violet, dark blue and even white. Sadly the blooms have no scent. Its fruit is a green cylindrical-ovoid 3-valved capsule and the seeds are blackish at maturity. According to one web site "The most reliable way to identify this species is to look very closely at the beards on the lower side petals. In marsh blue violet, the hairs are thick and rounded at the tip, like tiny clubs. Other bearded blue violets have slender, pointed hairs." This violet is known to occasionally hybridize with other species.
Its natural habitat is that of wet meadows and in coniferous or mixed-wood forests, marshes, swamps, and bogs. The Purple Violet is an eastern North American species that grows all over New Brunswick. It ranges from Quebec to Ontario and extends to the north shores of Lake Superior, as well as making its way to Minnesota and south to the state of Georgia.
The Cherokee Indians found many uses for the Purple Violet. Medicinally it was used to treat headaches, colds and cough, applied to boils in a poultice or sprayed up the nose for catarrh. It can also be made into jams and jellies and syrups for consumption.
Where is New Brunswick?