Any plant of the genus Lavandula, comprising about 20 species of the mint
family Labiatae, native to countries bordering on the Mediterranean.
English lavender (L. officinalis, L. spica, or L. vera) is cultivated
widely for its essential oil and for its narrow fragrant leaves and
spikes of purple flowers that are dried and used in sachets. French
lavender (L. stoechas) and L. lanata, native to Spain, are also widely
cultivated. The ancient Romans used lavender in their baths, and the
dried flowers have long been used to scent chests and closets.
Lavender is a small evergreen shrub with gray-green, hoary, linear
leaves, and light-purple flowers sparsely arranged on spikes at the
tips of long, bare stalks. The fragrance of the plant is caused by shining
oil glands imbedded among tiny star-shaped hairs with which the flowers,
leaves, and stems are covered. The plants in cultivation do not produce
seed, and propagation is by slips or by dividing the roots. In Britain
and the United States, lavender is cultivated for its essential oil,
while in the south of Europe the flowers are an object of trade.
Lavender oil is obtained by distillation of the flowers and is used
chiefly in fine perfumes and cosmetics. It is a colourless or yellow
liquid, the fragrant constituents of which are linalyl acetate, linalool,
pinene, limonene, geraniol, and cineole. Lavender water, a solution
of the essential oil in alcohol with other added scents, is used in
a variety of toilet preparations.
Spike oil, or spike lavender oil, is distilled from a somewhat inferior
grade of lavender having grayer leaves. Oil of spike is used in painting
on porcelain, in soap manufacture, and to scent other products.