Lavandula
(from lavo, to wash; in reference to its use in the preparation of Lavender-water). Lavender. SYN. Fabricia. ORD. Labiatae. A genus comprising about a score species of greenhouse or hardy perennial herbs, shrubs, or sub-shrubs, inhabiting the Mediterranean regions, and extending from the Canary Islands to the East Indian Peninsula. Flowers blue or violet, sub-sessile; corolla tube exserted, a little dilated at the throat; limb oblique, bilabiate; whorls two to ten-flowered, in cylindrical simple spikes. Nutlets glabrous, smooth. Leaves often clustered near the base, sometimes pinnatifid-dissected. The species are of easy culture in almost any friable garden soil. Propagation may be readily effected by cuttings of young wood, inserted in free sandy soil, under handlights, in autumn, and planted out during the following spring. The flower spikes of the common Lavender (L. vera) are frequently cut and dried, on account of their peculiar lasting fragrance. Cutting, however, should not take place until the flowers are fully expanded. The spikes should be spread and dried slowly, in a cool, shady position, and be then hung up or stored in a dry place. Although the Lavender is possessed of medicinal qualities, which were, at one time, somewhat extensively employed, it is now almost solely grown for the essential oil, which is largely used in perfumery.
L. abrotanoides (Abrotanum-like). fl. in dense spikes; corolla bright purple, the upper lip deeply emarginate, the lower with three equal, rounded, entire lobes. l. densely crowded, subsessile, ovate, deeply bipinnatifid. Canary Islands. A pretty species. (Ref. B. 159.) L. dentata (toothed). fl. dark purple; whorls six to ten-flowered; spikes loose, rather tufted at the apex; calyx oblong, pubescent, about equal in length to the tube of the corolla. Summer. l. oblong, linear, or lanceolate, bluntly and pinnately toothed, pubescent, hoary beneath, with revolute edges. Branches ascending, tetragonal, pubescent. h. 1ft. to 2ft. South-west Europe, 1597. A pretty shrub, hardy only in warm, sunny situations. (B. M. 400.) L. pinnata (pinnate-leaved). fl. purple, large, in imbricated branched spikes. June. l. petiolate; leaflets wedge-shaped. h. 1 1/2ft. Madeira, 1777. Greenhouse. (B. M. 401.) L. Spica (Spica). A synonym of L. vera.
L. Stoechas (Stoechas). fl. dark purple; whorls six to ten-flowered; spikes dense, comose; calyces ovate, hoary, shorter than the corolla. Summer. l. oblong-linear, quite entire, with revolute edges, clothed with hoary tomentum on both surfaces. h. 2ft. to 3ft. Mediterranean region, 1568. A handsome, hardy shrub, having a strong, aromatic, agreeable flavour. (S. F. G. 549.) L. vera (true).* Common Lavender. fl. blue, rarely white; whorls six to ten-flowered; spikes somewhat interrupted. Summer. l. oblong-lanceolate, somewhat spathulate, quite entire, narrowed a long way at the base, with somewhat revolute margins, hoary on both surfaces. h. 1ft. to 2ft. South Europe, 1568. SYN. L. Spica. (B. M. Pl. 199.)