The Importance of Latin Names in Identifying an Essential Oil

Cranesbill is not where geranium essential oil comes from
There are many species of lavender

There is often confusion between the the identification of some essential oils and their uses for therapeutic purposes in aromatherapy. The misunderstanding often arises because people often use the common english name of a plant and not the botanical latin name. The following plants are often confused:

Pelargoniums and Geraniums

Marjoram and Oregano

The Sage Essential Oils

The Chamomile Essential Oils

The Lavender Essential Oils

Reading these individual articles will give you some idea of the confusion between these various plants. These common misunderstandings should remind us that when identifying an essential oil for a particular purpose, we should learn the latin name (ie the botanical name) of the plant. Not only do plants/essential oils get mistaken for other species/varieties by using english names but there are many different varieties of a plant species.

Lavender is probably one of the most well known and popular essential oils - but there are many species of lavender. Not only that, but depending on the growing season and region, the same lavender species may produce a slightly different chemical composition than the previous year. Lavender essential oils include the following varieties:

Lavandula angustifolia/officinalis - common/true lavender

Lavendula x intermedia - lavandin

Lavendula latifolia - spike lavender

Lavandula stoechas -different to the above 3 lavender varieties in that it is high in ketones and not in common usage in aromatherapy.

With the exception of Lavendula stoechas , all of these lavender plants look similar but their chemical composition varies slightly - they have common aromatherapy uses but this may not be the case with every species of plant. In addition, you often see lavender essential oils marketed as Bulgarian or French or English lavender; this gives you a clue as to which country the distilled lavender essential oil came from but you still need to check the chemical composition to make sure it is typical of -

a) other lavender essential oils

b) will work therapeutically for what you intend to use it for.

This is just an example of the complexities surrounding english and latin botanical names for plants and essential oils; there are also some essential oils which should never be used for aromatherapy purposes. That's coming up next....

How to Use Essential Oils at Home

essential oils can be used in a number of ways at home

Essential oils are often used in spa treatments - but how do you use essential oils in your own way at home? Essential oils, when pure, are therapeutic in their powers and are used in aromatherapy to heal and treat specific problems. However, because essential oils are powerful, they should never be used neat, i.e. directly onto the skin, unless specifically directly to do so by a qualified aromatherapist, and even then, with extreme caution.

Essential oils are often used in carrier oils in aromatherapy blends. As discussed previously, carrier oils may not necessarily be an oil and may take the form of lotions, water, milk and honey too. But once you've mixed your appropriate essential oils in a carrier, what do you do then? Here's some suggestions:

- use essential oils in the bath in a bubble bath base, bath oil, bath salt - or with milk or honey, very luxurious!

- use essential oils in the shower in a shower gel base

- use essential oils in a shampoo base

- to treat your hands or feet to a soak (like in a manicure or pedicure) add some essential oils to a foot or hand bath

- if you have a injury, pain or inflammation, use essential oils in a hot or cold compress, depending on the situation

- some essential oils are good for treating coughs and colds; add essential oils to a tissue, on your pillow at night time (but remember to dilute in water or you will end up with an oily mess!) or to a bowl of water and inhale deeply

- use essential oils in your everyday skin care routine - add essential oils to lotions for hands, feet, face and cleansing lotion

- are you allergic to or get headaches from commercial perfumes? Make your own perfume sprays with pure essential oils

- use essential oils in a diffuser to fragrance a room and 'create' a certain mood

- essential oils can also be used in cleaning products (another topic to be discussed at a later date) .

Essential oils are extremely versatile and as you can see are not just a 'pretty smell'! All of these suggestions can easily be expanded on and I will come back to some of them in future postings. If you have any other suggestions for using essential oils at home, or I have missed something, please leave me a comment at the end of this post!

When is an Essential Oil not an Essential Oil?

...an interesting question which expands on essential oil, fragrance oil or hydrosol last month. Plants are capable of producing many things from their 'material' - aside from essential oils, plant material can be eventually made into concretes, absolutes, resinoids and oleoresins, depending on the plant and depending on the material and extraction process. However, aside from essential oils, none of these other substances are completely 'natural', as they involve some sort of chemical processing through solvent extraction.

Concretes and absolutes are often used in the perfumery world as they maintain the fragrance that perfumers require - but they do not possess the therapeutic properties of essential oils for aromatherapy use.

To learn more read When is an essential oil not an essential oil? And methods of distillation and extraction of essential oils will be discussed in my next blog post...

When Not To Use An Essential Oil

Essential oils have different safety 'standards' in different countries; as I've mentioned previously, essential oils in France are dispensed through a pharmacist. In the UK and in the USA, this is not the case. Anyone can walk into a store, or order online, any essential oil regardless of their knowledge about essential oils.

Essential oils, if used correctly, are relatively safe to use - those three words, 'if used correctly' are what makes the difference. Before qualifying as an aromatherapist and having no knowledge of aromatherapy or what essential oils actually were, I did not realise the power held in one essential oil bottle. Since qualifying as an aromatherapist, I am asked all sorts of questions about the use of essential oils which makes me question whether essential oils should be on restricted sale! After all, 'knowledge is power', and the lack of knowledge about essential oils could make a huge difference to someone's reactions to a particular essential oil.

I discussed the safety of essential oils in a previous blog post but thought it prudent to mention some of the 'risk' factors (or contra-indicators) on when not to use an essential oil. Essential oils are made up of different chemical components and therefore the chemical make-up of an essential oil can determine the 'risk factor' of a particular oil. Some essential oils are toxic, sensitizing and an irritant. Some other potential risks of essential oils, and therefore 'contra-indicators', include:

- risk to pregnant women

- risk to children and babies

-risk to those with liver problems

-risk to those with kidney problems

-risk if not used in moderation

- risk if used in sunlight

- risk of skin irritation.

Not all essential oils carry these risks, it is dependent on the chemical make-up of the essential oils; some essential oil 'families' do share common characteristics and therefore similar risk factors. For example, the majority of citrus essential oils are photo toxic, and the high menthone content of most mint oils is a huge risk factor for young children and babies; however, there are often exceptions to the rule (and between different botanical species), making it wise to have some knowledge of essential oils before using them.

For those with little or no knowledge of essential oils, it is important to note that essential oils should normally be administered through a carrier oil; only few essential oils should be used neat, and then only with care and knowledge. There are other methods of essential oil administeration, oral and vaginal among them, but these practices are studied at advanced level.

As I continue to learn about essential oils and their uses, I really do believe that education about essential oils is vital in their correct use. I don't think it is necessary to be 'medically qualified' to administer essential oils but I do believe that having some knowledge about essential oils before using them is important. If you want to know more about a particular essential oil, click on any of the essential oil profiles on the left side of this blog to get started - and take note of any 'risk' factors! I would like to finish by saying that essential oils can be used in most cases relatively safely - 'if used correctly'...

An Essential Oil Glossary - Understanding Aromatherapy Terms

Aromatherapists use some complicated terms to describe essential oils and what properties essentials hold. To the student of aromatherapy this can be very confusing. A simple list or glossary of essential oil terms can help.

There are many aromatherapy books out there - the good ones will contain a glossary of essential oil terms and their meanings. Some are self-explanantory, such as deodorant; others are more complex, such as emmenagogue.

Then there are the terms used to describe the odor of an essential oil. What does 'green' mean? It doesn't mean the essential oil is green in color, in fact it describes an essential oil which has a grassy odor! Of course, many aromatherapists use different terms and can interpret things slightly differently but in general there are some common aromatherapy terms used by most.

As an initial student of aromatherapy, I found the composition of an essential oil glossary helpful and still add to it today, as I continue to learn, or re-visit, new terms. If you want to know more about an essential oil glossary and some of the more common aromatic terms, check out An Essential Oil Glossary of Aromatic Terms.

If you have any suggestions or thoughts on essential oil terms please let me know!

Essential Oil, Fragrance Oil or Hydrosol Article Link

Following on from yesterday's post, you may be interested in this article I published today at Suite 101 - Essential Oil, Fragrance Oil or Hydrosol? It really is a large area that deserves more exploration than the limitations of this article allowed, but this is a good introductory to the subject, I think!

What is an Essential Oil?

There is much debate in the modern world as to the historical use of essential oils. Essential oils as we know them today are not the same as essential oils as used by the ancient Egyptians and Romans. In fact, the very early essential oils used in history were not oils obtained by the distillation process we use today; the distillation of essential oils, with the use of the refrigerated coil, was first used by the Arab physician, Avicenna (AD 980 - 1037). Furthermore, 'modern day' aromatherapy is accredited to Rene-Maurice Gattefosse, a French chemist, who 'discovered' the therapeutic properties of lavender through an accident in his laboratory in 1928.

However, the ancient Egyptians and Romans were using plants to make oils for both cosmetic and medicinal uses; albeit, it was in a different form than that we know today, but the medicinal properties of the oils were not dissimilar to the properties of the essential oils of today. It is also worth bearing in mind that the chemical components of an essential oil are a complex thing and the removal or addition of a component can alter the essential oil considerably, once extracted from the plant too. But that's for a future posting...

So, how is an essential oil defined? An essential oil is basically the life blood of the plant and is actually stored and used by the plant in a number of ways, prior to its extraction. My article - botany and aromatherapy - explains this in more depth. An essential oil can be extracted from the flowers, roots, seeds, leaves, bark or fruits of a plant; depending on the actual plant this may be by steam distillation or cold expression. An essential oil, despite its name, is in fact non-oily. And essential oils don't dissolve in water.

So what isn't an essential oil? An essential oil is not synthesized or made in a factory or chemically altered in any way. Today, most manufactured perfumes are synthetic (man made) as are many fragrances and 'pure' essential oils which claim to be therapeutic but are in fact, sadly, not. Some essential oils are expensive to produce, such as Rose, so if you find Rose essential oil very cheaply, you are probably being sold a synthetic or 'knock-off' oil. Adulteration of essential oils is common by many large companies looking for a profit margin, rather than a therapeutic value.

The secret to identifying a pure essential oil is to study, study and then study some more! Learn to identify essential oils by their latin names (which relate to the botanical source). Research the history and reputation of the essential oil supplier. Know that most citrus oils are not steam distilled but are actually cold expressed. Fragrance oils (despite their popularity in the USA are of no therapeutic value in aromatherapy) and hydrolats (are of therapeutic value in aromatherapy) are not essential oils. Many items described as 'aromatherapy' products with 'essential oils' may not be what you think; that 'essential oil' may not be an essential oil...

As you can see, essential oils are very complex and take some understanding! Even more so, essential oils should only be used with experience and knowledge - and usually in carrier oils, which is coming up next....