Lavender (Levandula spp) is a popular medicinal herb. Its name derives from the Latin verb lavare which means wash. In traditional Arab herbalism, lavender has been used as an expectorant and antispasmodic. In European traditional medicine, lavender has been used on wounds and as a vermifuge for children. John Parkinson wrote in 1640 that lavender benefits against "all griefes and paines of the head and brain".



Lavender is bitter, dry and cool. It contains volatile oil, tannins, cumarins, flavonoids and triterpenoids.



It is relaxing, antispasmodic, antimicrobial, analgesic, antiflatulent, cholagogue, antiseptic and benefits the circulatory system. Lavender flowers are not as effective as lavender oil but they are helpful for nervous exhaustion, headache, colic, dyspepsia, mouth washes and halitosis. Lavender oil is well-known. It is used in many products such as cream for eczema, lotion for burns, ointment for asthma and bronchial spasms, lotion for lice, oil for massage on neck and temple against tension headaches and migraine in its first stages, oil for insect bites and burns.



Lavender infusion should be diluted 25% when administrated to infants. Lavender use should be avoided in pregnancy as it stimulates the uterus.



*Sakis Kouvatsos, “Haniotika nea”