Violets for the first time


This past weekend as I enjoyed lovely time with my family, I spotted a purple surprise found on a fresh spring grass carpet.  Violet flowers! I remember violets were one of my favorite flowers as a kid growing up.

Their beautiful mild purple color in various shades and intensities is hard to miss. Apart from color there is a perceptible scent, as you approach its’ petals. Every time I smell viola it immediately brings certain portion of my childhood to me. Always, but every time, I smell violet is a first time, as research shows …

Their certainly unique smell has to do lots with molecular composition found in their purple petals. Ionones is the answer! These aroma compounds found in a variety of essential oils are major components of viola’s scent. Specifically α-ionone, β-ionone, β-dihydroionone, compounds differing from each other only by positioning of double bond in a cyclohexenyl moiety or presence of CC double bond connecting Cα-Cβ.


Vital role in charming smell of purple violets is caused by 1,4-dimethoxybenzene, another major constituent of petals. It is believed that, 1,4-dimethoxybenzene acts as a synergist to the ionones perceived by human smell receptors and makes it way easier to catch the scent of ionones, but not forever … Research published in Journal of Agricultural and Food chemistry suggests that:

Violets can be smelled for only a few moments at a time. Ionones shut the smell receptors off after simulating them. After a few breaths the scent of ionones pops up again but the brain registers it this time as a new stimulus. So, every time you smell a violet is a first time.
Take your time this spring and enjoy the scent of violets as if it was for the first time ... because in reality it is first time!

This post is partially inspired by a post by Esther Inglis-Arkel titled "How violets steal your sense of smell".

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