Lavender oil is an essential oil obtained by distillation from the flower spikes of certain species of lavender. Two forms are distinguished, lavender flower oil, a colorless oil, insoluble in water, having a density of 0.885 g/mL; and lavender spike oil, a distillate from the herb Lavandula latifolia, having density 0.905 g/mL. Like all essential oils, it is not a pure compound; it is a complex mixture of naturally occurring phytochemicals, including linalool and linalyl acetate. Kashmir Lavender oil is famous for being produced from lavender at the foothills of the Himalayas. As of 2011, the biggest lavender oil producer in the world is Bulgaria.
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Uses
Lavender oil has long been used in the production of perfume.
In aromatherapy lavender oil produces a significant decrease in performance of working memory and impaired reaction times for both memory and attention based tasks compared to healthy controls using a CDR System.
Oil of spike lavender was used as a solvent in oil painting, mainly before the use of distilled turpentine became common.
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Adverse effects
Lavender oil appears to be an endocrine disruptor, exhibiting anti-androgenic activity in vitro.
Composition
The exact composition of lavender essential oil varies from species to species but consists primarily of monoterpeneoids and sesquiterpeneoids. Of these linalool and linalyl acetate dominate, with moderate levels of lavandulyl acetate, terpinen-4-ol and lavandulol. 1,8-cineole and camphor are also present in low to moderate qualities. In all lavender oil typically contains many more than 100 compounds, although a great many of these are present at very low concentrations.
The composition of lavender essential oil as obtained by chromatography:
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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