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What is Lavender ?
The lavenders are flowering plants
belonging to the mint family Lamiaceae. The name is derived from
a Latin word lavare, which means, “to wash”. There are about
twenty-five to thirty species of this kind. The genus or the
species include sub shrubs, small shrubs, annuals and herbaceous
plants. They are native from Mediterranean region. They are
widely cultivated and are blue or mauve in colour. Lavenders
grow to a height of about one to three feet and the flowers
bloom during July to September.
Types: There are different varieties
of lavenders that include
• Sweet lavender
• Spanish lavender
• Goodwin creek grey lavender
• Yellow lavender
• French lavender
• Woolly lavender
• Allardii lavender
The above are described briefly as
follows
Sweet lavender: They have
very dark coloured leaves that are green in colour and have the
largest size. They grow very fast and have long flowers.
Spanish lavender: These
lavenders grow low and wide and sometimes the stems are layered.
They are dark purple colored with dark green leaves and the
heads of the flowers are pineapple shaped. They look great when
they are planted along with Orchid Rockrose.
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Goodwin
creek grey lavender: They grow shorter and have dark
purple coloured flowers that are held on a longer stick. They
are hybrids of French Lavender.
Yellow lavender: They grow
taller and wider and have yellow-green leaves that are strongly
scented. They do have flowers with pineapple shaped head but the
top is lemon colour.
French lavender: They grow
very fast and are large in size. They are sometimes called as
ever blooming lavender. They have traditional grey leaves with
toothed or jagged edges.
Woolly lavender: They have
dark purple flowers and grey foliage and bloom during summer.
Allardi lavender: It is a
form of French lavender and is supposed to be crossed with
Lavandula latifolia.
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The
English lavenders include
• Hidcote lavender.
• Hidcote pink lavender.
• Vera lavender.
• Jean Davis lavender.
• Munstead lavender.
• Sarah lavender.
Hidcote lavender: It is
usually grown in cold climates and is famous for the dark purple
flowers. It is not heat tolerant.
Hidcote
pink lavender: It is self-explanatory. It has pink
coloured flowers and looks best when seen from far.
Vera lavender: Also called
as lavender Vera is supposed to be the true English lavender or
Fine lavender. It is the best lavender used for medicinal
purposes. It is grown at altitudes between two thousand and four
thousand feet on the mountain sides.
Jean Davis lavender: It
looks almost similar to Hidcote pink lavender but the only
difference is in the taste. These are little harder to grow. The
flowers of these lavenders smell fruity.
Munstead lavender: These
lavenders tolerate the heat of summer ad is named for Munstead
Woods. They look better when planted with yellow or white roses.
Sarah lavender: These are
small plants with dark purple flowers. They have short flower
spikes.
Cultivation of lavenders
Cultivation is done mainly for Common lavenders i.e. Lavandula
angustifolia. There are some more species that are grown which
include L. multifida, L. stoechas and L. dentate. There are
grown widely in gardens. The grown lavenders are used for
various purposes. The flower spikes are mainly used for dried
flower arrangements. The purple flowers and flower buds are used
in potpourris. Potpourri is a natural fragrant plant material
that is made up of a mixture of dried flowers, leaves, seeds and
cones. Lavenders are mainly grown commercially to extract
lavender oil that is used fro various medicinal purposes.
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Beekeepers get a high quality honey
from lavender flowers that yield plenty of honey. This honey is
marketed widely as a high quality product. Lavenders grow best
in light soil and with plenty of sunlight. The plants are grown
either from the seeds, seedlings or cuttings. Usually they are
started with the cuttings that are taken from the Mother plants,
this is done because it is fast and accurate and produces
lavenders that are exact replica of the original plant.
Lavenders that are started from seeds are found to have some
drawbacks. The main drawback is finding the seeds; secondly it
is the slow germination. The lavender seeds have low shelf life
and because of that reason the germination rate is low. It takes
pretty long time to sprout, which attracts the fungus, and the
seed gets rotted even before they are sprouted. The third
disadvantage is that it takes time for the seedlings to get into
good size. Since not much care is taken for the seeds to see
that they are not crossed with the each other the plants develop
varying shades of colour. To dry lavenders, the buds are
harvested when they are barely open and are spread in the dark
with ventilation. |
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Uses of
lavenders
Lavenders are used for various purposes such as in foods,
medicines etc that are described. Lavenders are used in personal
care products as a fragrance ingredient in shampoo, perfume,
bath salts, hair gel, soaps etc. It is used as sachets to scent
linen and clothes. It is available as incense. It is used as
medicinal oil for various problems. It is often called as
“first-aid in a bottle”. It can be used on the body directly
without diluting it. It can be applied to stings and burns to
reduce the pain and cool the area since it acts as an antiseptic
and an anti-bacterial. It quickens the blood flow in the
affected area that will help in healing. It is also proved in
reducing the anxiety. This can be done by adding few drops of
lavender oil in an aromalamp (aroma diffuser). In most cases it
is used to reduce headaches and in some cases migraine in the
initial stages. It is massaged into the shoulder muscles, head,
neck etc to relieve the pain. It is also used as an analgesic
for relieving pains from arthritis symptoms etc. It acts as an
insect repellent and as a hair rinse to keep away mosquitoes. It
is supposed to give sound sleep. This is done by adding the
seeds and flowers of the plant under the pillows. The
combination of the three flower heads added to a cup of boiling
water acts as a soothing bedtime drink. Nowadays lavenders are
also used in kitchen. It is used in desserts and other sweet
items such as lavender ice cream, lavender jellies, lavender
cookies etc. lavender blossoms are used in seasoning poultry,
salad dressing etc. The lavender oils are priced reasonably.
Problems associated with lavenders
Like uses of lavenders there are certain problems also
associated with them. It should be noted that the lavenders used
for personal care products should not be mistaken for food items
and used in that. Secondly it is noted that young boys who use
these personal care products developed gynecomastia, which is
the abnormal development of breasts in boys.
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Article Contributed By: Shilpa V
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