Product Overview
Our high quality organic Lavandin Grosso essential oil is grown in France and possesses a wonderful aromatic balance between herbal, floral, and camphoraceous notes. Organic Lavandin Grosso is suitable for use in a narrower range of applications than true Lavender oils but does represent a real cost-effective substitute for them in candles, soaps, and personal care and cleaning products.
True Lavender (called interchangeably Lavandula angustifolia, L. officinalis and L. vera[1]) grows at high altitudes, while Spike Lavender (called interchangeably Lavandula spica and L. latifolia[2]) thrives at lower altitudes on the same sunny hills and slopes of Spain. When these two plants flower simultaneously and cross-pollinate to create the hybrid Lavandula x intermedia, there are several cultivars of this hybrid that appear – namely L. x intermedia ‘Abrialis’, ‘Grosso’ (the most common), ‘Reydovan’ and ‘Super’.[3] Two important advantages of these hybrids/cultivars: they are more easily grown, and they have a significantly higher yield of essential oils than true Lavenders, thus they can be far more economical.[4]
Lavender hybrids of all types are not inferior oils in themselves – it is in fact more comparable to making a table wine collected from different fields or different grapes vs. a vintage wine of controlled single origin. As long as there is no adulteration, an easy task with Lavandins, they have great value in aromatherapy applications and natural perfumery.
1 Sheppard-Hanger, Sylla. The Aromatherapy Practitioner Reference Manual, Vol. 1, 1994, p. 263.
2 Price, Shirley and Len Price. Aromatherapy for Health Professionals, 2nd ed., 2001, p. 15.
3 Ibid.
4 Davis, Patricia. Aromatherapy – An A-Z, 1988, p. 183.
