SC - Lavender

[The Cheshire Cat]

><< Any cautions on eating lavender?>>

Cooks hat *off*
Herbalist hat *on*

LAVENDER

Family:  labitae
Part Used:  Flowers
Constituents: volatile oils
Action:  aromatic, carminative, nervine
Helps to:  Improve the digestion, reduce flatulence and colic, ease nervous
tension

Historical Notes:
  Lavender has been prized for it's scent since Elizabethan times.  It is
native of the Mediterranean and was used by the Romans for scent and
medicine - it's use in the bath accounts for it's name, as lavare is the
Latin word for 'to wash'.  It was mentioned in the Bible as the much values
'Spikenard'.  Lavender was one of the herbs thought to give protection from
the plague in the Middle Ages, and there are many customs and folklore
rituals in which is figues.  It was taken to the New world by the pilgrims
in the xeventeenth century.
   As a medicine, lavender was thought to help against the bites of snakes
and mad dogs, and was taken to relieve pain and reduce stress and tension
problems.  Extrnally it was used as a lotion or poultice for painful
problems like headaches and toothaches. The oil was used on skin injuries
like burns and ulcers.

Lavender makes a good remedy for the digestion and an excellent one for
easing nervous tension.  The taste is not overly unpleasant once you get
used to it.  (I make an infusion of it for just this problem).

culpepper says:  'Lavender is of special use for pains in the head and
brain to do proceed of a cold cause, as the apoplexy, falling sickness, the
drowsy or sluggish malady, cramps, convulsions, palsies and often
faintings.  It strenghtens the stomach and freeth the liver and spleen from
obstructions, and provoketh woman's courses.'

  Here's the only warning.  Don't take Lavender in large quantities if you
are pregnant without the approval of a certified herbal practitioner.

Herbalist hat *off*
Cooks hat *on*

  Sorry about that, I know that herbalism doesn't quite belong on this
list, but I couldn't help it since I have had some bad experiences with
various herbs, I am a strong believer that people should have some idea of
what it is that they are putting into their bodies.  Non of my research
indicates that there is any particular type of lavender that should be
used.  I always use the plain spike lavender.

Just my 2c worth:
- -Sianan

**************************************************************************
Marina Denton
sianan at geocities.com

        Logic is a systematic way of arriving at the wrong conclusion in
	confidence.
**************************************************************************


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