HDAprilMay2010
3/30/10
11:26 AM
Page 38
MAKE-IT NATURAL
The Therapeutic History of
Lavender By Sue Mattie As far as herbs known for their pleasant scent, none is loved more than lavender. It is known as the Queen of Aromatherapy and for good reason. It has a relaxing fragrance that soothes the body and soul. The fragrance is strong, penetrating and sweet. All parts of the plant, the stems, the leaves, and especially the flowers are aromatic, pungent and stimulating. The fragrance is the strongest when the buds are squeezed or crushed since this releases the essential oils.
A PLANT WITH HUMBLE BEGINNINGS AND A ROYAL PAST
PINK LAVENDER TEA This pretty pink Lavender tea is soothing and delicious! The pink colour is created when you infuse English Lavender buds with lemon juice. The longer you steep this tea the more intense the pink colour and flavour of the tea. English Hidcote Lavender makes the prettiest tea because of the intense blue colour of the buds. Double the quantity of Lavender buds if using fresh buds.
DIRECTIONS: In a teapot, add 1 tablespoon (12 ml) of freshly squeezed lemon juice to 1 tablespoon (12ml) of dried English Lavender buds. Add 2 cups of boiling water and let steep. Serve tea using a tea strainer.
38 Healthy Directions April/May 2010
As well as for its unmistakable perfume, lavender has been recognized since Roman times for its healing and antiseptic qualities. Later in the Middle Ages, it was the monks and nuns who nurtured lavender, using it to make medicines. In the sixteenthcentury lavender was considered an effective and reliable protection against infection in France. For example, glove-makers, who were licensed to perfume their wares with lavender, escaped cholera at that time. Also, during the sixteenth century, Queen Elizabeth 1 of England was a lavender devotee. She drank copious cups of lavender tea to treat her frequent migraine headaches. During the seventeenth century, lavender secured its place in the herbals as a cureall, relieving headaches, calming nerves, healing acne, and soothing insect stings and “the bitings of serpents, mad-dogs and other venomous creatures.” In the eighteenth century, at the time of the Great Plague, travellers used to carry a bouquet of lavender around with them to protect themselves again the disease. It is said that the graverobbers, who plundered plague victims’ personal belongings, used to wash in Four Thieves Vinegar, which contained lavender. By the nineteenth century, lavender appeared in the London Pharmacopeia as an ingredient of palsy drops, which supposedly remedied “falling sickness, cold distempers of the head, womb, stomach and nerves against apoplexy, palsy, convulsions, vertigo, loss of memory, dimness of sight, melancholy, swooning fits, acne and barreness in women.” More recently, during the First World War, modern antiseptics were in such short supply that the public was asked to gather garden lavender so the oil could be used together with sphagnum moss to dress war wounds. Today, lavender is still used in herbal remedies. Cushions filled with dried lavender can help to induce sleep and ease stress or depression. The antiseptic qualities of lavender tea can help to cleanse the system and relieve headaches and stomach upsets.3 Courtesy of Sue Mattie from Stoney Hollow Herbal Treasures is a small, eco-friendly Lavender farm in Farm is located in Markdale within scenic Grey County, Ontario (south of Collingwood and north of Toronto). For more information visit:www.stoneyhollowherbaltreasures.com.