10 Fun Facts about Lavender:
1. No surprise! Lavender is the #1 essential oil sold at Anarres year after year. Presently, we sell 5 kinds that are all the same species, Lavandula angustifolia.
2. Lavander is a genus of 47 known species of flowering plants in the mint family, Lamiaceae, with a sweet floral fragrance that ought to be complex - from warm floral to cool bright notes.
3. The name lavender comes from the Latin word lavare, which means to wash. Lavender was used by washerwomen to drive the lice out of clothing in ancient Rome.
4. Washerwomen were known as lavenders in medieval Europe. The word launder derives from lavender.
Thou shalt be my lavender Laundress
To wash and keep clean all my gear,
Our two beds together shall be set
Without any let.
~ Walter Hemingburgh Ship of Fools, 16th Century.
5. Because lavender grew wild all over Europe and the Middle East, it was the favourite perfume and laundry additive of the poorest people. The poorest women often worked both as launderers and as sex workers. In this way, prostitutes in ancient Rome wore lavender to signal that they were available for work.
6. Therefore, lavender was officially the scent of elicit sex in Medieval Europe, according to History of Sex author Kate Lister!
Your voice calmed me like petals of lavender.
~ Indranil Kumar
7. Lavender relieves states of anxiety and depression that arise from inward-looking and self-recrimination.
Her love was like lavender, delicate and melancholy.
~ Laura Chouette, The Painting Of Mrs. Ravensbrook.
8. Since ancient times, lavender has been extensively used to treat different ailments, including insomnia, headaches, and skin problems. Lavender was used in bathing in the ancient worlds of Persia, Rome, and Greece.
When hope is fleeting, stop for a moment and visualize, in a sky of silver, the crescent of a lavender moon. Imagine it -- delicate, slim, precise, like a paper-thin slice from a cabochon jewel. It may not be very useful, but it is beautiful. And sometimes it is enough.
~ Vera Nazarian
9. Use lavender essential oil in a reed or candle diffuser, or place a drop on a terra cotta pendant or disk beside you, or on your pillowcase before you go to sleep.
10. Use lavender flowers in sachets to gently scent your clothes in drawers or suitcases, or infuse in water for a tea, in honey or sugar for a homemade delicacy.
We always carry lavender in our Bulk Herb Zone, and have a few dried bouquets left for $4 a bundle!