True Lavender

Lavandula angustifolia

We cannot mention the name of true lavender (Lavandula angustifola ssp. angustifola (syn. lavendula vera, L. officinalis), without thinking about immense exquisitely blue fields.

Rare are the words that have such an evocative power as this shrub of fifty to seventy centimetres of the Lamiaceae family, which loves air, space, light and heat.

Main aromatic molecules: Terpene esters (linalyl acetate and lavandulyl acetate), monoterpenols (linalool and lavandulool).
Family: Lamiaceae.
Producing organs: Flowering tops.
Yield: 1.3kg of essential oil for 100kg of flowers.
Equivalence: 1ml → 31 drops (dosage calculated for a calibrated dropper European Pharmacopoeia).

Bath
Skin application
Oral route
Respiratory route

Main properties

Lavender can treat insomnia, irritability, anxiety attacks and various manifestations due to stress. It is also used as a muscle relaxant. Furthermore, it is an ally against skin problems in particular acne, eczema and psoriasis. An antiseptic that prevents infections, and an anti-parasite that also repels lice.

Find all the virtues and uses of essential oils in our tips section.

recipes

Burns, sunburns, irritated skin
Apply 2 or 4 drops of pure essential oil of lavender or diluted to 50% in aloe vera gel to apply on the irritated or infected zone.

Nervous disorders
Use 2 drops of essential oil of true lavender to massage the solar plexus. Breath in 1 ml of lavender placed on a diffuser during the day to calm you or in the evening to sleep better. Pour 10 drops of essential oil of lavender in a spoonful of powdered milk or neutral base for the bath in very hot water. Relax for about twenty minutes, dry yourself without rinsing and go to bed.

Celebrated since antiquity, lavender was one of the numerous "nards" (fragrant herbs) of the Greeks. It was used to clean and perfume the thermal baths, an institution that was appreciated in the Roman world but which was easily foul smelling. The term "lavender" appears in the Middle Ages, derived from the Latin verb lavare (wash). Its use was associated with fighting diseases because for a long time it was thought that bad smells propagated diseases. It was one of the simples cultivated in monastery gardens. Its use in perfumery mainly started in the 19th century. True lavender is one of the major aromatherapy plants: it does not just have a pleasant fragrance, it also provides an extremely multivalent and effective essential oil. Today, while maintaining the summer harvest of former years on difficult fields between a thousand and fifteen hundred metres in altitude, we cultivate hybrid species: the harvest is still carried out using a sickle after the morning dew.