Flowers as Medicine: Lavender

Lavender is one of the most commonly used flowers in many of today's aromatherapy sessions and products, as well as many scent producing products for your home, like candles and incense. As people have known for centuries, the true beauty of lavender lies within its scent, and not it's pretty purple appearance. The medicinal properties of lavender are more apparent when it's refined and put into a product or package that makes its many beneficial uses easier to obtain. You can find many products right in your every day market or department store that contain lavender, and in fact, most of the high end scented candles use lavender as a base scent because of its soothing, relaxing odor that peaks and pleases your senses.

Breathing in the scent of lavender has long been said to calm you down and help release any tension you may be feeling at the time. Today, as was done centuries ago throughout the world where the flower is found, lavender is usually hung upside down to dry and used directly in satchels and pouches of potpourri that are known to have soothing and calming effects when in the near vicinity of anyone lucky enough to catch a whiff of them. Many of the potpourri you can find at stores, even specialty stores, are usually made with lavender as their base ingredient because it's scent is just right for a mixture of flowers meant to calm your senses. It's used this way because it's scent is not overpowering, but soft and subtle, and just strong enough to be picked up by our noses when nearby, allowing any other dried sweet smelling flowers in the mixture to be detected as well.

Aside from calming you down, lavender has a number of other medicinal uses too. People all over the world still use the ancient lavender tea recipe, which is a common and very effective sleep aid and cure for insomnia. Dried lavender leaves are used in the tea, letting their soft and sweet smelling aromas and flavors seep into the water and deliver a subtle kick to your tea that will have you catching as many Zs as you want.

Lavender is also quite effective at soothing harmed, irritated, damaged, or burned skin. It's even used in many of the modern skincare remedies that are specifically made for soothing and healing sunburn. Eczema and other varieties of dried skin can also be soothed with the use of lavender, even without refining it or using it in an essential oil. Since ancient times, lavender was crushed into a paste and added to water to be rubbed as a salve on skin damaged by the sun or a debilitating skin condition. It's also a very useful anti-inflammatory, fixing the puffiness of insect bites or other wounds that puff up areas of your skin.

Though lavender is not often ingested as many of its species are harmful and even poisonous if eaten, the most common sort of lavender you'll find for your own use is dried and usually in ribboned pouches at your local specialty store. If you're in the area and need some soothing therapy for your nerves or your skin, grabbing a satchel of lavender is your best and safest bet!