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Sunday 20 December 2015

Lavender

The lavender plant is native to the Old World and can be found from the Canary Islands, Europe across to northern and eastern Africa, the Mediterranean, southwest Asia to southeast India.

The name Lavender derives from Latin "lividus" (bluish) but was influenced by "lavare"  ‎(to wash) due to the use of lavender in washing clothes.


During Roman times, lavender flowers were sold for 100 denarii per pound, which was about the same as a month's wages for a farm laborer.

Lavender Water was distilled by the German Benedictine nun, Hildegard of Bingen in the 12th Century.

A bunch of lavender was worn round the wrist to protect against infection during the Black Death. Lavender has natural antibacterial properties.

Lavender was used to perfume people and clothes in Tudor England. Neither soap or clean water was readily available but lavender water was easily made. Indeed a laundress was known as a lavender.

In 1748 Yardley of London began selling one of the world’s first branded products, their famous lavender water in glass bottles.



Lavenders are sometimes used to prevent infection - such as lavender oil, which was used in World War 1 to disinfect walls and floors of hospitals

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