Lavender - Lavandula officinalis

Lavender oil can be used to prevent faintness, nervous palpitations, spasms and colic. It can also be used to prevent flatulence and to induce appetite.

It has aromatic, carminative and nervine properties. Though largely used in perfumery, it is now not much employed internally, except as a flavouring agent, occurring occasionally in pharmacy to cover disagreeable odours in ointments and other compounds. Red Lavender lozenges are employed both as a mild stimulant and for their pleasant taste.

It is antibacterial, anti-convulsive, antidepressant, anti-inflammatory, analgesic, anti-rheumatic, antispasmodic, anti-toxic, antiviral, anticoagulant, carminative, cholagogue, cicatrisant, cordial, Anti-Fungal, deodorant, decongestant, diuretic, emmenagogue, galactagogue, hypotensive, insecticidal, nervine, parasiticidal, rubefacient, restorative, sedative, sudorfic, tonic, vermifugal, and vulnerary.

It relieves aches, pains, and swelling from arthritis to injury to headache. Lavender also alleviates motion sickness. Emotionally, lavender helps support a calm composure and self-expression. It reduces irritability, insomnia, nightmares, apprehension, panic attacks combined with uncontrollable shaking, stress, nervous tension, hysteria and is generally balancing to the psyche, as well as the body.

Lavender essential oil has a light, sweet floral scent. This variety has a softer, more complex scent than the one from Bulgaria but shares many of the same properties. It helps support healthy reproductive, respiratory and lymphatic systems. Use on minor or superficial wounds to help assist the skin's natural healing ability.

Lavender oil or a spirit of Lavender made from it, proves admirably restorative and tonic against faintness, palpitations of a nervous sort, weak giddiness, spasms and colic. It is agreeable to the taste and smell, provokes appetite, raises the spirits and dispels flatulence. The dose is from 1 to 4 drops on sugar or in a spoonful or two of milk.

A person could safely use Lavender and Tea Tree neat; if any burning sensation develops, just apply a carrier oil to cool it down.

Lavender is essential in the treatment of burns; apply neat oil only as the carrier oil will hold the heat in rather than cool the burn down. Also, Lavender is known as an adaptogen; meaning used in moderation it is a relaxant, but in larger doses becomes a stimulant. The other adaptogens are Geranium, Lemon, and Neroli.

A few drops of lavender oil under the pillow can help calm the mind and allow a better night sleep.

Lavender essential oil, when diluted with a carrier oil, is commonly used as a relaxant with massage therapy. Products for home use including lotions, eye pillows—including lavender flowers or the essential oil itself—bath oils, etc. are also used to induce relaxation.

It is a strongly aromatic shrub growing to 1–2 m tall. The leaves are evergreen, 2–6 cm long and 4–6 mm broad. The flowers are pinkish-purple (lavender-coloured), produced on spikes 2–8 cm long at the top of slender, leafless stems 10–30 cm long.

Lavender is of fairly easy culture in almost any friable, garden soil. Itgrows best on light soil - sand or gravel - in a dry, open and sunny position. Loam over chalk also suits it. It requires good drainage and freedom from damp in winter. The plant flourishes best on a warm, welldrained loam with a slope to the south or south-west. A loam that is too rich is detrimental to the oil yield, as excessive nourishment tends to the growth of leaf. Protection against summer gales by a copse on the southwest is also of considerable value, as these gales may do great damage to the crop by causing the tall flower-spikes to break away at their junction with the stem. Lavender also is liable to injury by frost and low-lying situations and those prone to become weatherbound in winter are to be avoided.