Lavender-June 2009

FAMILY: Lamiaceae

HERBAL APPLICATIONS: Dried lavender bundles for home decor, bath, sachets and linen scenting. Dried lavender is helpful in keeping summer moths out of your winter woolens. Fresh or dried lavender can be used in very small amounts in cooking. A little goes a long way; the sweet aroma is contrasted by a surprisingly bitter taste. Nice in cookies and lemonade. Some folks even make lavender ice cream!

ESSENTIAL OIL: Rightfully called the "mother oil", lavender is used for balancing a wide variety of physical and emotional matters. Classic uses of lavender oil are to promote sound sleep, freshen the body (the name comes from the Latin "lavare", to wash)and sooth skin irritation from heat rash to insect bites. It is an oil of choice, along with helichrysum and german camomile, for treating minor burns.

Lavender is probably the most well known and versatile of all the essential oils used today. Over 160 different chemical compounds have been identified in lavender oil. This undoubtedly accounts for its amazing range of healing and adaptogenic properties.

Balancing and toning oils, of which lavender is one, may have varying actions in different people depending upon the individual needs of each person. Some texts suggest that lavender may help normalize blood sugar. Clinical studies conducted in Britain have shown that Lavender triggers the release of seratonin.

Lavender is healing and calming to the system, making it useful for stress and insomnia. Its pain relieving properties make it useful for headaches, especially if applied to the temples.

It promotes rapid new cell growth making it healing for all external skin conditions including burns and deep wounds. Combined with tea tree oil, it is superb for this purpose. Because of Lavender's rapid healing abilities, be careful about using it on very dirty wounds or splinters as it may cause the skin to heal over the dirt or debris.

Lavender’s antispasmodic and soothing properties make it an excellent treatment for muscle spasms, sprains, strains and arthritic joints. It is a wonderful addition to a massage or joint oil blend. For that matter, lavender is an excellent addition (even in very small quantities) to any blend due to its ability to harmonize and enhance the actions of the other oils in the blend. It is used in blending in much the same way the licorice is used in herbal practice – to make the blend as potent and synergistic as possible.

Its anti-venomous and insect repellent qualities make lavender a perfect oil for the first aid kit.