Lavender

Description

Lavender (Lavandula) has antifungal, antibacterial, analgesic, anti- inflammatory, anti-insomnia, anticonvulsant, antispasmodic, and antianxiety and antidepressant properties. Lavender is used is traditional medicine to treat restlessness, insomnia, nervousness, and depression. Lavender is used for migraines, nerve pain, and joint pain. It is also used to reverse abdominal swelling from gas, upset stomach, nausea, loss of appetite, and vomiting.

Lavender is used mostly as an essential oil and is made through distillation. This will leave you with pure lavender oil, but it takes around 150 parts of lavender to make 1 part oil. (It would take around 150 oz. of lavender to make 1 oz. of oil.) The distilled lavender is primarily used for inhalation.
You can make a cold infusion of lavender by adding crushed fresh dried lavender to a jar and adding enough oil to cover it. (Coconut oil would add to its medicinal properties.) Don’t fill the jar completely so you leave room for air in the jar. Put the jar in a sunny location. You should smell the lavender in the oil after forty-eight hours, but the oil is usually left in the sun for up to six weeks. The lavender infusion is used as cologne or perfume, or as a rubbing oil for soreness and arthritis. Lavender is also consumed as a ground.