Origanum vulgare Stem distilled from the herb, from Hungary.
Aroma: Oregano oil has a powerful, spicy, camphor-like aroma.
Oregano is the nuclear bomb of essential oils when it comes to microbes! Two living things survived the appalling nuclear bomb tests of the 1950s - cockroaches and yeasts. Nonetheless, researchers at Georgetown University proved that oil of wild oregano completely destroyed yeasts in petri dishes.
Colour: Light Yellow
Common Uses: Origanum oil is said to have the following properties: Analgesic, antirheumatic, antiseptic, antispasmodic, antitoxic, antiviral, bactericidal, carminative, choleretic, cytophylactic, diaphoretic, diuretic, emmenagogue, expectorant, febrifuge, fungicidal, parasiticide, rubefacient, stimulant, tonic. Due to a high carvacol content, Origanum essential oil is considered to be "nature's cure all" as it is reputed to have one of the best antiseptic and anti-bactericide properties. Origanum oil can also be used as a fragrance component in soaps, colognes and perfumes, especially men’s fragrances.
Possible Uses: Coughs, digestion. [Julia Lawless, The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Essential Oils (Rockport, MA: Element Books, 1995), 188.] A powerful anti viral, origanum in synergy with clove and other essential oils removes petroleum by-products from the body through the lymph nodes.- TTF
Constituents: Carvacrol, thymol, cymene, caryophyllene, pinene, bisabolene, linalool, borneol, geranyl acetate, linalyl acetate, terpinene. [Julia Lawless, The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Essential Oils (Rockport, MA: Element Books, 1995), 188.]
Safety Information: Skin irritant, mucous membrane irritant, can cause skin irritation. [Robert Tisserand, Essential Oil Safety (United Kingdom: Churchill Livingstone, 1995), 156.]
Cautions: Origanum essential oil is both a dermal irritant and a mucous membrane irritant. Although many practitioners, medical and alternative, "prescribe" oregano oil for every ailment under the sun, DO NOT PUT DIRECTLY ON THE SKIN!!!!
DO NOT INGEST WITHOUT THE SUPERVISION OF A REGISTERED AROMATHERAPY HEALTH PRACTITIONER. If you need to sterilize a wound, use lavender or chamomile. If you need to strerilize your digestive system, you need help and there are safer ways than oregano, which should be a last resort for colonized organs.
Photo thanks to Photo by David J. Stang, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
