Lavender

Lavender, Lavandula angustifolia, is an evergreen woody shrub, up to 1 metre tall, with pale green, narrow, linear leaves and flowers blunt spikes of a violet-blue colour; it belongs to the Lamiaceae (Labiatae). The whole plant is highly aromatic.

Lavender oil is produced by steam distillation of freshly cut, flowering tops of the plant. It is a pale yellow, amber-tinged liquid with a fresh, sweet, floral, herbaceous odour on a woody balsamic base. It has the following typical composition (%): cis-ocimene (5-9), trans-ocimene (3-5), cineole (<1), camphor (<0.4), linalool (30-35), linalyl acetate (30-40), 1-terpinen-4-ol (3-4), and lavendulyl acetate (3-4).

There are other lavandula oils that are used:

• Spanish spike lavender oil obtained from lavandula latifolia, which main components are linalool (40-50%), cineole (20-30%), and camphor (10-20%).
• lavandin oil is obtained from lavandula x intermedia, which contain linalool, and linalyl acetate as major constituents as well as 5% cineole and more than 7% camphor.

Lavender and lavandin extracts are also commercially important and are produced in southern France by solvent extraction of flowering lavender and lavandin herbs. Production of lavandin concrete is higher than that of lavender. Extraction of the paste like concretes with ethanol, followed by evaporation, yields absolutes. These extracts differ from the essential oils in being more soluble and in having a dark green colour and a longer lasting odour with hay like, spicy note. They are also used in eau de cologne and fine fragrance, sometimes after discoloration (removal of chlorophyll with activated charcoal).