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Lavender - Uses

Thought to have been brought to Britain by the Romans, who used their flowers to scent bath water and linen, lavenders have been used since ancient times both as a medicine and as a perfume.

The essential oils found in the flowers can be used to flavour foods, and both the leaves and flowers can be incorporated into salads, ice cream, jelly, drinks and stews. Lavender oil has been used for many hundreds of years as an antiseptic, to soothe headaches and aid relaxation. It was famously used during the Black Death plague when it was believed to repel disease.

Lavender is used commercially in several ways – as a landscape plant, for its fresh or dried flowers and for its essential oils.

There are 39 species of lavender but only four have economic importance: L. angustifolia, which is used widely in perfumes and in horticulture, Spike lavender (L. latifolia) which is used for soaps, Lavandin ( L. x intermedia) which is harvested for its flowers and essential oils, and L. stoechas, which is used for its oil and flowers but mostly as an ornamental plant.

Lavender oil (usually from L. angustifolia) is a colourless liquid with a sweet, floral scent, while Lavandin oil has a slightly more medicinal 'note'. Each is produced from favoured varieties such as 'Maillette', 'Compacta' and 'Irene Doyle'.

Lavender water and lavender oil have long been used for personal care products and in washing clothes. Lavender oil has been used in the creation in many perfumes and colognes, in soaps, bath salts, talcum powder and many other products. The oils can also be used in drinks such as tea, baking products and confectionary. The use of lavender oil has decreased in favour of Lavandin oil which is cheaper.

Another common use of lavenders is in pot pourri and drawer sachets to freshen clothes and deter moths, while its use in honey production is also rising to prominence. It is often also claimed that infusions of lavender can help soothe headaches and insect bites, and can aid relaxation and sleep.

Lavender flowers are extremely attractive to insects especially bees, who feed on their abundant nectar. This yields a very high quality honey revered by beekeepers everywhere.

(The Genus Lavandula: Tim Upson & Susyn Andrews)

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