Lavenders are a genus of 39 species, from lamiaceae mint family. The genus of lavender includes herbaceous, annuals, shrubs and subshrub.
Lavender is a sweet smelling herb with an aromatic taste. It has various
culinary and medicinal uses.
It is cultivated generally in gardens world wide, they are also found
growing wild in garden areas as an escapees.
Lavender is been used since a long time back, as Romans used this scented
flower during bathe for refreshing skin.
Lavender is one of the holy herbs used in the biblical temple to prepare
holy essence.
It is native to the Mediterranean region south to tropical Africa and to
the southeast regions of India.
It is a small shrub with gray downy linear leaves with light blue to
violet color flowers.
There are various species of lavender but usually the most used species
are- angustifolia is being most popular and latifolia is hardy specie and
often planted.
It is a short shrub which grows to a height of 60 cm and has broad
rootstock, which bears woody branches with erect, rod like leafy green
shoots.
The flowers are arranged in spirals of 6-10 blossoms forming interrupted
spikes.
Its range is widely spread across the canary island, north and east
Africa, south Europe and the Mediterranean, Arabia and India.
It grows best in the areas with full sunlight and prefers light sandy
soil.
It tolerates slightly acidic ph balance of 6.4 to an alkaline of 8.2 ph.
Fresh flowers and essential oils are used.
Lavender contains linalyl acetate, linalool, trans-ocimene, limonene, camphor, 8-ceneole, and 3-octanone.
LemoLavender is considered for its medicinal properties. It is internally used for headaches, anxiety, indigestion, head ache and migraine.
It is mostly used externally to treat various ailments such as
It is said to have analgesic effect which relieves body pain. It is also antiseptic and a good stimulant and can be easily apply on wounds and burns.
Lavender essential oils are extensively used in aromatherapy which helps to reduce stress level, head ache, relieves pain, depression, nervous exhaustion and insomnia.