Medicinal and aromatic plants – industrial profiles

3
History of usage of 
Lavandula
species
Jo Castle and Maria Lis-Balchin
Introduction
The term lavender is considered to come from the Latin ‘lavando’ part of the verb ‘lavare’ to
bathe, the Romans having used many plants to perfume their baths. The Greeks and Romans
also referred to lavender as nard, from the Latin Nardus Italica, after the Syrian town Naarda.
This was the beginning of much confusion as to which plant was being referred to in classical
and medieval times. 
Lavandula
is obvious, however nard and spike can refer to spike lavender or
to spikenard (a plant imported from India during the Middle Ages and equally popular then for
its aromatic properties). Despite much learned investigation into the identification of lavender
in the writings of classical authors; it has remained impossible to unquestionably identify 
L. vera
or 
L. spica. L. stoechas
is, however, distinctly referred to by both Dioscorides and Pliny
(Gingins-Lassaraz 1826 in Fluckiger and Hanbury).
An alternative, but less likely explanation from Victorian times connected the name to the
Latin ‘livere’ meaning to be livid or bluish (Festing, 1989).