The Violet is a medium size flowering plant that has had a long history of use, both for medical conditions and for producing fragrances. There are over 800 species of herbs, shrubs, and even vines and trees. It is native to Europe and parts of Asia, although it is grown in gardens throughout the world. The violet is mainly grown in southern France, namely in Grasse, and to a lesser extent in Italy and China. Other important families include the Begonia, the Gourd, the Passionflower, and some 875 tropical shrubs and trees, many valuable sources of timber. Some tropical members of the Violaceae family are grown for their fruit, such as the Papaya, which is also cultivated for the enzyme Papain for use as a digestive aid and as a meat tenderizer. Seeds of Annatto were an important ingredient in the commercial production of orange-dye, and it is still used to this end by some Native Americans. These seeds are also popular for South American cooking.

The Sweet Violet, or Sweet-scented Violet, has had a long, illustrious career in a wide variety of uses. It has been used in perfumes, medicine, love potions, sweets, liqueurs, and hairdressings. The early Arab perfumers learned to distill the violet's precious oil. The Greeks viewed the violet as the flower of fertility, and both the Greeks and Romans drank wine made from violets. It was the floral emblem of the Bonapartes, and after her separation from Napoleon, Empress Marie Louise established a violet industry in Parma that still flourishes today. It also has a long tradition of uses in herbal medicine, mainly for congestive pulmonary conditions and sensitive skin problems. It is a main ingredient in many home remedies for acne, fibrosis, poor circulation, rheumatism, bronchitis, mouth and throat infections, headaches, insomnia, and many, many more. It has been used as a mild pain reliever, due to its salicylic acid, as in aspirin, and it is currently listed within the British Herbal Pharmacopoeia as a specific remedy for eczema and skin eruptions.

Violets come in many shapes and sizes. The wild Violet, known as the Pansy or Heartsease, is grown for its color, fragrance, and shape, and is also used in herbal treatments. Most violets are small plants having short stems and leaves that appear to sprout directly from the ground. The leaves of the violet all contain stipules that grow at the base of the leaf and can be examined by spreading the leaf's base. The flowers of the violet family vary, but they all have the defining characteristic of ovules around the inner portion of the flower which mature into seeds. The Sweet Violet, a small, highly fragrant annual, originated in Europe, Asia, and North Africa. For the perfume industry, the essential oils are mainly cultivated in southern France and northern Italy. There are two varieties used for perfume production, the Victoria violet and the Parma violet. While the Parma violet is more highly rated, the Victoria violet is the one mainly used because it is much easier to grow and is more disease resistant. Immediately after being picked, the flowers are extracted by enfleurage, maceration or volatile solvents to yield a very small amount of absolute. The leaves also yield some absolute, which is usually added to violet perfumes to give an herbaceous, slightly earthy tone.

There are both concrete and absolute extractions form the fresh leaves and flowers of the violet. The leaf absolute is a dark green viscous liquid that has a strong green leaf fragrance with delicate floral undertones. The flowers yield a yellowish-green viscous liquid with a sweet, rich, floral scent. This absolute blends well with tuberose, clary sage, boronia, tarragon, cumin, basil, hyacinth, and other florals. Because so little absolute is obtained from each flower, it is extremely costly and very rarely used even within violet perfumes. Most present day violet perfumes are synthetic fragrances that use a base of ionone or methyl-ionone. Still, the higher quality violet perfumes have natural violet extracts added to them. Some fragrances that use violet extracts are L'Interdit, Nina, Quelques Fleurs, Soir de Paris and Xeryus.