Medicinal and aromatic plants – industrial profiles

Abbess Hildegard
The Abbess Hildegard (1098–1179) of Bingen near the Rhine in what is now Germany, was the
first person in the Middle Ages to clearly distinguish between 
L. vera
and 
L. spica
(Fluckiger and
Hanbury, 1885; Throop, 1994):
On Palsy one who is tormented should take galangale, with half as much nutmeg, and half
as much Spike lavender as nutmeg, and equal weights of githerut (probably Gith or Black

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Jo Castle and Maria Lis-Balchin
Cumin) and lovage – but of each one, more than the spike lavender. To these he should add
equal weights of female fern and saxifrage (these two together should be equal to the five
precious ingredients). Pulverise this. If one is well, he should eat this powder on bread, if
ill, he should eat an electuary (soft pill) made form it.
In a chapter on lavender she alluded to its strong odour and many virtues (Throop, 1994: 
chapter XXXV):
Lavender (
Lavandula
) is hot and dry, having very little moisture. It is not effective for 
a person to eat, but it does have a strong odour. If a person with many lice frequently smells
lavender, the lice will die. Its odour clears the eyes (since it posses the power of the strongest
aromas and the usefulness of the most bitter ones. It curbs very many evil things and,
because of it, malign spirits are terrified).
Lavender continued to be used for de-lousing until about 1870s, blotting paper being soaked in
the oil and applied to children’s heads.
Hildegard also recommends this decoction of lavender for pulmonary congestion, translated
from the French (Hertzka and Strehlow, 1994):
To cook lavender of spic (spike) with wine, or if one has no wine, with honey and water, 
put it in case to cool often, soften the suffering in the liver, and in the lungs and the vapour
in the chest (pulmonary congestion), and the wine of lavender I assure you is a science pure
and clean’.
(PL 1140 C)
Hildegard distinguishes expressly between the ‘lavande aspic sauvage’ (
L. spica
) and the noble
‘lavande de jardin’ (
L. vera
). Furthermore, in her descriptions of the different types of rest and
sleep she states that to prepare the nervous system for sleep, a walk followed by a bath steeped in
lavender is beneficial (Hertzka and Strehlow, 1994).
Summary of uses recommended by Hildegard
For palsy (a powder with other ingredients), for head lice, to clear the eyes when smelt, to curb
malign spirits and for pulmonary congestion in wine or honey. To ensure a restful nights sleep
she recommends a bath with lavender after a walk.
Middle Ages
During the Middle Ages, ‘strewing herbs’ in churches and houses incorporated lavender.
Lavender was used in medicines in medieval Wales and England in conjunction with 
numerous other herbs, including herb robert, valerian, wormwood, elecampagne, parsley, 
fennel etc.
A poem of the school of medicine in Salerno around 1020 
AD
entitled ‘Flos Medicinae’ 
(de Renzi) gives the following lines:
Salvia, castoreum, lavandula, primula veris,
Nasturtiom, athanas haec sanat paralytica membra
(Sage, Beaver gland excretion, lavender, primrose,
Nasturtium, are cleansing and soothing for paralytic limbs)

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History of usage of
Lavandula
species
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