Lavender

Lavandula angustifolia

Also: English lavender, True lavender

WarmingDryingRelaxing

Releases tension and lifts a heavy, anxious mood.

A silver-leaved Mediterranean shrub with spikes of violet flower buds. Lavender relaxes spasm and tension in muscle and gut, calms agitation, and lifts the spirits when anxiety comes tangled with low mood.

Energetics: Warming, drying, relaxing
Taste: Aromatic, bitter, sweet
Family: Lamiaceae (mint family)
Parts used: Flower buds

Medicinal uses 10

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Traditional useLab and mechanism studiesClinical studies

Anxiety & stressTLC
Calms nervous agitation, especially alongside low mood.
Trouble sleepingTLC
Its scent helps the mind let go at bedtime.
Low moodTLC
Lifts stuck, despondent feelings.
Tension headacheTLC
Diluted oil or a cool compress eases tension headaches and migraines.
Burns & sunburnTLC
Diluted oil soothes small burns and sunburn.
Indigestion & bloatingTLC
Relaxes and moves a bloated, gassy gut.
Acne & breakoutsTLC
Dries weepy eczema and calms acne.
Bites & stingsTLC
Soothes insect bites, and repels insects.
Muscle tension & spasmTLC
Diluted in massage oil, lavender helps tight shoulders and neck let go.
MigraineTLC
Breathing lavender oil during an attack eased migraine pain in a small trial.

Preparations

A gentle tea in blends, diluted oil, baths, and sachets.

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Cautions

Very drying with regular topical use.
About one person in ten tastes it as soapy and unpleasant.
Take the essential oil by mouth only as standardized capsules, and not in pregnancy.

Medication interactions

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Pregnancy & breastfeeding

PregnancyTea and aromatherapy

Aromatherapy and occasional tea have a good safety record, including in labor. Concentrated oral lavender oil capsules have no pregnancy data and are avoided.

BreastfeedingTea and aromatherapy

Aromatherapy and tea are generally considered compatible; avoid essential oil by mouth.

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Folklore

Romans scented their baths with lavender, and the name is often traced to the Latin lavare, to wash; washerwomen were once called lavenders. In 1910 the French chemist René-Maurice Gattefossé burned his hand in a laboratory explosion and treated it with lavender oil, a story he told in the 1937 book that coined the word aromathérapie. Street sellers cried lavender through London summers for centuries.

How to grow

A woody shrub for full sun and lean, gritty, alkaline soil with sharp drainage. Shear it after flowering, but never cut into bare old wood. English lavender is the hardiest and the medicinal standard. Harvest stems when the first flowers on each spike open.

In the wild

Native to the sunny mountain slopes of Spain, France, and Italy, growing among rocks and scrub.

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