Liz,
I remember seeing your question before, but didn't have any useful information at that time. And this may not be much use either, but for what it's worth...I hadn't noticed any special scent coming from the leaves of any of the sweet violets that I had grown. If I remember right, you had read/heard of a cucumber scent?? Well, recently I've noticed a cucumber scent that is very elusive (sometimes there, sometimes not) coming from some violet seedlings I have growing under fluorescent lights indoors. The seedlings aren't pure Viola odorata, but have odorata as the pollen parent. And to complicate matters, they have some sort of mildew or mold type of disease of the leaves. It starts off as a sooty kind of mold, then the leaf gets dull and eventually has patches that die and turn straw-colored. I mention this because I'm thinking it may be associated somehow with the smell. Maybe the scent is given off by the damaged or drying tissues??

When I've tried to crush all different sorts of violet leaves, all I smell is typical grassy smells.

Dear Liz

I confirm that I didn't find any smell in violet leaves...The fact that one can smell violet when it is not the flowering season comes from the cleistogamous flowers or more probably the medium stage when the flowers are a little bit opened...
There is also a confusion due to the fact that violet perfume is extracted from the leaves ..but really...this is not used for their violet perfume. It is rightly used for their "typical grassy smell" (thanks to Tom!) and believe me, I did smell that extract: it's awfull when concentrated.

Ah, thank you all for this information! I had been so curious about these things until now. I had no idea that cleistogamous flowers emitted any fragrance; thanks Nathalie! :)

Stefan

My Parma violets, with no flowers (no cleistogamous ones either) emit a wonderful perfume from their leaves, especially when being watered. The scent is reminiscent of the flowers with "green" added in. The sense of smell is subjective and varies greatly from person to person. Or maybe the Parmas from Canyon Creek are exceptional in having fragrant leaves???

I wish I could find a violet with scented leaves, but have not had the luck so far:)