Lavender

Latin Name: Lavendula Officinalis

Lavender flowers have a very strong cheerful smell. So strong, that you probably won't enjoy more than 5 grams in your teacup. Try mixing it with black tea, green tea, chamomile, ..

Health benefits: Lavender is antiseptic, anti-bacterial, anti-fungal, anti-inflammatory, anti-convulsive, and last but certainly not least – anti-depressant. It’s beneficial lessening stress, anxiety, exhaustion, irritability, headaches, migraines, insomnia, depression, colds, digestion, nervousness and loss of appetite.

Hair loss. A study by the The Natural Medicines Comprehensive Database (NMCB) considers Lavender as potentially treating alopecia areata, a condition in which hair is lost from some or all areas of the body. There is evidence that lavender can promote hair growth by up to 44 percent after 7 months of treatment.

Culinary: buds are used whole in tea blends, custards, cakes, muffins and in other baked goods.

Alternative uses:
– as a breath freshener and mouthwash
– Use these flowers for herbal hot bath soaking
– just keep in water for a while to create a floral water (eau de cologne)
– Boiling and inhaling the vapor should make u sleep better.
– Make lavender oil with it and us it externally to improve cuts and insect stings, rashes, muscle aches, even rheumatism and arthritis.
– Fill cotton bags to give a nice flagrance to your clothes
– Fill small pillow cases to make homemade buckwheat pillows. They will make you want to sleep earlier.

Origin: France