Lavender

General description
History
Applications
Chemical properties
Precautions
Culinary
Other variants
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Lavender is a winter hard, ever green dwarf bush with in bundles of erect stems.
The stem branches off in numerous stems that can become up to 60 cm high.
The leaves are grey-green and have a lancet form.

The leaves grow only on the bottom part of the stem.
In the summer (July to September) on the tops blue-violet flowers blossom.

Cultivate lavender yourself.

The best growth place for lavender is a sunny and open place.
The best soil for lavender is good drained, loam sandy soil.
Lavender can be increased by sowing it and by making cuttings. For cuttings take in the spring or fall 10 till 20 cm long cuttings of the stem. The plant can be split up also. For sowing, you sow the seeds from February till April under glass. The germination time is approximately 4 weeks.
Plant out can be done from half May on 45 to 60 cm from each other or for hedges 30 cm distance from each other.
Remove died flower stem and cut back the hedges and plants in the late fall or spring. To harvest you pick the flower stem when the flowers just open. Pick the leaves when it is necessarily. Dry the flowers by hanging them in bunches.

According to a very old European tradition the first lavender plant grew in the garden of Eden.
Adam and Eva took a twig of the smelling plant with them when they were driven away from the garden.

There is prove that this herb became used 4000 year before Christ by people in the east.
The old Egyptians also have a liking for of lavender and were the first that begun to trade with such affairs. The pharaoh Tutankhamen was put in his tomb with a perfume pitcher lavender on his side.
Lavender is also used quite long medicinally. The Greek writer Padanius Dioscorides was responsible for the indication of the medicinal use of lavender in the first century after Christ.
The undefeatable Roman troops also certainly had lavender with them for wounded and exhausted soldiers, and were the first that grew lavender for harvest and use.
Lavender was in the Middle Ages also a popular scatter herb because of its insect repelling capacity and its lengthy smell. The ethereal oil also became used in the housekeeping to work smells away and to camouflage the bad smell in the streets. There were stories of a glove maker from Grass who used lavender oils to give the leather a smell and could scarcely be infected with the plague. Because of this other people also started to carry lavender with them to also protect themselves against the plague.

Decorative.

Use the whole plant for beautiful fragrant hedges.
Hang the dried flower on in woods, separate or together with other flowers.
Lavender only sees there nicely from at the head of the bed, at the curtain rails or at a photograph list. Lavender with other flowers is pretty on doors, at window frames or at the ceiling.
Join twigs closed at wreaths and bouquet.
Are the lavender flowers dried out, they can be used yet for other purposes.

Housekeeping.

Lay the dried flowers in woods, in smell bag or smell cushion between clothes its pleasant smell to give and to want to drive away.
The making of smell cushion: rub the flowers of the stem when the lavender is dry and do this in a ready-made cushion.
Also cover can be made smell for drawers to let the drawer to lavender. Before most delicate you firstly a to pieces decorative paper from (a pieces of wallpaper remainder is excellent) and cut there a piece from to large of the underside of the drawer. Cover the underside of the paper with a thin layer of glue and strew these with a thick layer of dried lavender flowers. Let this dry and want to be stuck the flowers off that not. Lay it with the flowers to under in the drawer.
Also is lavender in flower bouquets, carafes, potpourri, baskets, (head) cushions and fragrant clothe hangers to use.
You can add also a few drops ethereal oil at the last spool water for fragrant laundry or her.

Cosmetic.

A tonic of lavender flowers for a fragile and sensitive skin to accelerate the cell growth and as antiseptic means by acne. You can add lavender to soap.
The oil also is to be used by massages against muscle pain, liquid retention and cellulites.

Medicinal.

Lavender is nerve calming, brings softening, cheering up and the mind in balance.
Through the disinfectant and bacteriologic and soothing qualities helps the oil
Wound by cut wounds, fire wound, bruises, pustules, allergies, insect bites and anginas. The oil works also mucus dissolving and helps therefore by cold and flu.
Lavender oil works blood pressure lowering, prevents stomach cramp and nastiness and digestions disturbances. Also the rheumatism helps to prevent and works the restorative.
Tension, depression, insomnia and stress can be treated well with lavender oil.

External.
As cares means for the head skin.
It is used as natural perfume.
As a bath or massage oil against excitability.

Internal.
As a tea, used to light headache and nerves to calm.
Further it works against flatulencies, almost faint traps, dizziness and unpleasant-smelling breath.

Applications with ethereal oil.

Lavender is calming, helps softening, by depressiveness and brings emotions in balance.
Lavender oil is valuable by the treatment of all kinds of wounds.

The oil is obtained by water vapour distillation of the fresh flower top or by the entire plant under low pressure. It is colourless till light yellow with a sweet, flowery spicy smell and a wood like undertone. It is a powerful energetic tonic, that over it general a good feeling gives

Lavender has a broad working and is by o. a to use. :
Abscesses, acne, allergies, haemorrhoids, bruises, fire wound, dermatitis, eczema, head rose, insect bites, take, wound ear pain, inflammations, psoriasis, pustules, ring worm, scabies, boils, swear sun cream, swimmers eczema, lumbago, muscle pain, rheumatism, spraining, wrenching, asthma, bronchitis, throat infections, whooping cough, laryngitis, bad breath, mucous membrane inflammation, belly cramp, queasiness, dyspepsia, flatulence, colics, nastiness, bladder inflammation, dysmenorrhoea, white tide, depressiveness, headache, hypertension, migraine.

Here follow few applications of the ethereal oil of lavender.

By fire wound.
Firstly cool with hardly streaming water, then 1 to 2 drops lavender (possibly mix with Aloe Vera gel) on the wound put in. This every hour till the pain decreases.

By insect bites and animals bite.
lavender want to put in purely (or mixed with a basis oil or Aloe Vera gel) on the painful place. Or 2 to 3 drops on a damp wad of absorbent cotton put in and this on the wounded spot hold. By a by or wasps stick, remove the hook and treat the stab immediately with pure lavender, remain swelling and pain then out.

By youth pustules.
10 drops lavender and 5 drops Chamfer in a glass of boiled water do and rinse or dab with this 2 turn per day the skin

By acne or rosacea.
Mix 2 drops lavender, 2 drops Lemon, 4 drops Helicryse, 2 drops Petitgrain and 1 drop
Rosemary in 2 tablespoons St. John's Wort, massage with this mixture daily light.

By eczema.
Mix 5 to 10 drops with 50 ml basis oil and rub in this the eczema daily with.
Wet eczemas firstly treat with Aloe Vera gel or Tea Tree.

By bad temples.
5 drops lavender on the pillow sprinkle or 6 to 10 drops in the bedroom evaporate.


An example of available ethereal oil, is the lavender oil of the brand Chi.

In the plant present compounds.

Ethereal oil (main compound: linalyl-acetate), Tannins, Flavonoids (Luteoline), Ursolic acid (a triterpene).

Active compounds in the Ethereal oil.

4-Butanolide, 5-Pentyl-5-pentanolide, Cadinene

Monoterpenoids:
a-pinene 0.1-0.6%, beta-pinene 0.1-0.2%, camphene 0.1-0.3%, ?-3-carene 0.3%, cis-ocimene 2.4%, trans-ocimene 1.5%, allo-ocimene 0.6%, limonene 0.2-0.7%

Sesquiterpenoids:
beta-caryophylene 1%, beta-farnesene 1,2%

Not terpenic alcohols and regular and not regular monoterpenoids:
cis-3-hexene-1-ol, linalool 32-42%, terpine-1-ol-4 2.8-3.6%, a-terpineol 0.1-1.2%, borneol 0.8-1.4%, geraniol 0.9%, lavendulol 0.1-1.3%

Not terpenic and terpenic esters:
linalyl-acetate 42-52%, terpenyl-acetate 0.5%, geranyl-acetate 0.5%, lavandulyl-acetate 1.3-4.1%
Acids:
1,8-cineol 0.7-2.3%, linalool-oxide, caryophylene-oxide

Terpenic and non-terpenic compounds:
1-octene-3-on 1.3%, p-methyl-acetophenon, campher, Sesuiterpenons (mono and bi-unsatisfied), mono and bi cyclical, sesquiterpeneons 2%

Terpenic and not terpenic aldehydes:
trans-2-hexanal 0.4%, cuminaldehyde 0.4%, benzaldehyde 0.26%, neral, geranial, myrtenal

Lactones:
butanolides 0,1%

Coumarins:
coumarine 0.04%, herniarine 50 ppm, omnibelliferon, santonine, dihydrocoumarine, umbelliferone

Bi-functional components:
acetate of 2.6 dimethyl-3,7 octadiene-2-ol-6-yle

Because lavender has a light menstruation enhancing effect, that it call up or can stimulate the monthly blood, must lavender be avoided during the first seven months of the pregnancy.
Lavender oil is safe for all age groups, but people with hay fever or asthma can be allergic for it.
The most ethereal oils cannot be taken in without risk. Use ethereal exclusive internal oil when you have sufficient knowledge or consult a (homeopathic) physician. In general however the working by external use is stronger than by internal use.

Lavender tea.

You can experiment to you taste with the quantity of lavender that you want to use, but a standard quantity is a dessert spoon of flowers per cup. Let this extract some minutes.
The tea can be sweetened with clear honey.

Lavender marmalade.

Requisites.
1 kg Sevilla-oranges
1 lemon
2 litres water
2 kg preserving sugar
25 g dried lavender flowers in a bag.

Preparations manner.
Cut the oranges and lemon in two and press the juice from it and cuts the skin fine.
Do the skin, juice and the water in a pan and bring it at the boil.
Let the completely approximately one and a half hour (or longer) softly simmer.
Stir the sugar there on a low fire through till he has been solved.
Join the bag lavender closed and bring the in approximately ten minutes at the boil.
Wring the juice from the bag lavender.
Let the mixture on a high fire boil till the solidification point is reaches.
Let the marmalade a half hour stand, create the in warm dry hoard and closes that air closed off.

Lavender on salads.

Fresh lavender flowers can be minced and are added at salads.
Dried lavender flowers can become scattered over fresh salads.
Lavender vinegar can add a refined aroma at each kind of salad.

Lavender vinegar.

600 ml white wine vinegar and a complete twig or single leaves Lavender (approximately 25 grams) take. Do firstly the lavender in a bottle.
Bring the vinegar at the boil and join him closed at the bottle with lavender.
Close the bottle good and let the at least 2 weeks on a cool dark place stand to ripen.
After you must get the lavender from it and to put the vinegar through a sieve in another bottle.
Use a few drops in a salads.

Lavender is good to use with lambs meat.
Also is lavender is in different desserts to use: in sorbet, custard and ice cream.

Lavender ice cream.

For 4 persons
Requisites.
4 egg yolks
75 g straw sugar
200 ml full milk
100 g honey
200 ml whipped cream
6 fresh lavender flowers

Preparation.
- The honey and the whipped cream mix.
- Rudder the egg yolks with the sugar creamy.
- Boil the milk and pours these on the egg yolks mixture.
- Heat slowly till the mixture thickens something (pay attention that it does not become lumpy).
- It pours, as soon as it thickened is, on the honey with whipped cream.
- Join the lavender flowers closed and let pull, until you arise is one delicious taste.
- The ice cream Sift then and set it in the freezer, regulated moving till the frozen is.

Lavendula angustifolia "Folgate"
Form with lavish purple-blue flowers and narrow, grayish green leaves. (60 cm)

Lavendula angustifolia "Hidcote"
A compact lavender with dark purple flowers and small silver leaves.
Slow growth.(50 to 75 cm).

Lavendula angustifolia "Loddon Blink"
A compact lavender with light pink flowers and narrow grayish green leaves (60 cm).

Lavendula angustifolia "Muntstead"
Dwarf form, narrow greyish green leaf, blue-purple-red flowers, bluer than the most varieties. (50 cm).

Lavendula angustifolia "Nana albums"
Compact form with white flower (4 to 5 cm long) and closed silver grey leafed. (30 to 38 cm).

Lavendula angustifolia "Twickle purple" (Purple lavender)
Form with long, soft, purple flower stem and broad greyish green leaves. (60 to 100 cm).

Lavendula angustifolia "Vera"
Form with purple flowers and leaf that a little more slender, silver like and more compact are then the other kinds. (90 cm).

Literature

[1]. Bremness, Lesley;- The Complete Book of Herbs: A Practical Guide to Growing and Using Herbs - Fifth edition; Studio (1994). ISBN 0140238026
[2]. Waring, Philippa;- Lavender - First edition; Naarden: Element (1998). ISBN 90-5689-044-1
[3]. Dr. C. Norman Shealy; - The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Healing Remedies - First edition; Element Books Ltd. (2000). ISBN 186204516X
[4]. Rüdt, U.; - Therapeutic and poisonous plants - First edition; Zutphen:
B. V. W. J. Thieme & Cie (1973). ISBN 90-03 94630 , 2