Medicinal and aromatic plants – industrial profiles

Main functions of lavender in the past
There is a mystery surrounding the actual appearance or reappearance of lavender in Britain 
after Roman times (Festing, 1989). The Huguenots have been suggested as possibly bringing it
over from France after 1685, however, a poem written by Master Jon Gardener in 1440 suggests
that lavender was already growing in Britain by then as do many other references to its 
medical usage. Many rhymes pertaining to lavender were printed and recited around 1672–85,
including the children’s rhyme: ‘lavender green, lavender blue, I shall be king and you shall be
queen’, (with and without ‘diddle-diddle’), suggesting that lavender was well established for
centuries.
History of usage of
Lavandula
species
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Cleanliness
From earliest times lavender has been associated with cleanliness and purity, since antiquity
bathing was included in the Regimen Sanitatis or writings on the care of the body. Medical, lit-
erary and ecclesiastical documents all reveal that bathing played a significant part in medieval
life. By the twelfth century there were baths (very large wooden tubs) in the houses of the richer
classes, in monasteries, and public baths in towns and villages often with rooms set aside for
resting after therapy (Berger, 1999). Bath houses were places for socialisation and intimacy, as
we find from the concerns in ecclesiastical quarters, Burchard of Worms (1008–12) in (McNeil
and Garner, 1990):
Hast thou washed thyself in the bath with thy wife and other women and seen them nude,
as they thee? If thou hast, thou should fast for three days on bread and water.
The type of water best used in a bath was specified, hard or soft, river, rain or snow and should
the patient take a steam bath or a water bath, for which Hildegard of Bingen gives much detail
regarding thermal springs. For the former, plant extracts were thrown on heated stones in a con-
fined environment, for the latter, if they were medicinal plant materials, they were added to the
water (Berger, 1999).
The Liber Niger or Black Book of Edward VI (1547–53), (Leyel, 1937) gives a reference to 
a ‘lavender man’ authorised to obtain from the spicery enough soap for the King’s personal washing.
Lavender was boiled in water and this was used for washing clothes. Shirts and sheets smelling
of lavender were recognised as especially clean and thus those hospitals (some of which were
hotels for travellers) and inns with linen smelling of lavender and also pots of lavender on the
sills, were frequented in preference to others (Festing, 1989). Lavender was also associated with
bridal beds.
Occult
Occult properties have also been associated with lavender, as it was among the mint and
Feverfew, which were consecrated to the patronesses of witches and sorcerers namely Hecate
(goddess of the infernal regions) and her daughters Medea and Circe.