Lavender

Plant Characteristics
Origin:	✈	?

Cultivation

Exposure:	☼	?"?" is not in the list (sun, part-sun, shade, unknown) of allowed values for the "Exposure" property.
Water:	◍	?"?" is not in the list (wet, moist, moderate, dry, less when dormant) of allowed values for the "Water" property.

Scientific Names
Lamiaceae >	Lavandula >

Read about Lavender in the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture
Lavender flower Lavender flowers Lavandula stoechas A lavender farm Lavandula (Latin, lavo, to wash; referring to the use of lavender in the bath). Labiatae. This group includes the lavender (L. vera), an ancient garden favorite because of its pleasant odor. Perennial herbs, subshrubs or shrubs: leaves commonly crowded at the base, pinnatifid or dissected: whorls 2-10-fld., crowded into long-peduncled cylindrical spikes, which are unbranched or branched from the base; flowers blue, violet or lilac; calyx tubular, 13-15-striated, 5-toothed; corolla-lobes nearly equal, or the posterior lip 2-cut, the anterior 3-cut; stamens 4, didynamous, declined, included in the tube; style shortly 2-cut at the apex.—Species upward of 20, Canary Isls. to India. In the N., winter protection should be provided for lavender. The plants of this genus grow naturally in dry and hilly wastes, except L. multifida which is found growing in peat. The generic name is derived from the ancient use of its flowers and leaves in bath perfumery. The flowers long retain their strong fragrant odor after drying, and upon distillation yield a lemon-yellow very fluid oil of aromatic, bitterish, burning taste. Lavender is best propagated by cuttings of one season's growth taken with a heel of older wood, in late autumn or early spring. When set 3 to 4 inches asunder in rather moist soil and shaded, they strike more readily and produce more symmetrical plants than older wood. Seed does not propagate desired varieties, and division is not advised, since plants so obtained are more susceptible to disease than those made from young-wood cuttings. After danger of frost, the one-year-old plants are set 4 feet asunder in rows 6 feet apart, running north and south. Closer planting and the hedge-method yield a smaller quantity of bloom. Dry, light, calcareous, even stony soils upon sites where sun and air are unimpeded by trees, favor this plant. Upon such fewer are injured by frost, and the oil is of superior quality. In moist soil so much water enters the plant as to enfeeble it, and upon rich lands yield and quality both suffer. Light fertilizing with stable-manure or ashes turned under in autumn, and spring harrowing, are advised. During the first year in the field the plants should be clipped to prevent flowering and to encourage stockiness. Vigorous plants so treated may grow to a height and a diameter of 5 feet, and when two to four years old produce secondary bloom-spikes after the general harvest, which usually occurs in early August. Plantations should be destroyed when four to six years old and the land rested with other crops before setting to lavender again. Cutting in clear weather, in early blossom, before the dew is off and at once distilling give best results; but no delay should occur. Cutting in wet weather, in the heat of the day, holding blossoms long before distilling and exposing them to the sun after cutting result in serious losses. One pound of flowers yields from one-half to one drachm of oil, and an acre from two to twenty-five pounds. "Oil of spike," obtained from a broad-leaved, much whiter and smaller species (L. Spica), is less fragrant than true lavender oil, being analogous to oil of turpentine, with which it is often adulterated. It suggests the odor of rancid coconut oil. Officinally, it is credited with carminative and stimulant properties, and has been found useful in nervous languor and headache. It is used by artists in the manufacture of varnishes, by porcelain painters, and to a small extent in perfumery, mainly as an adulterant. From 20,000 to 25,000 kilogrammes are annually produced at Grasse. See also "Culinary Herbs" by M. G. Kains, 1912. ^CH The above text is from the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture. It may be out of date, but still contains valuable and interesting information which can be incorporated into the remainder of the article. Click on "Collapse" in the header to hide this text.