Content
- Real lavender - How to recognize him
- Real lavender versus lavandin
- When buying look for additives such as "fine" or "extra"
- Tips
The cultivated lavender Lavandin is v. A. grown in Provence more frequently than real lavender
Real lavender - How to recognize him
For millennia, the true lavender is one of the most important and valuable medicinal and aromatic plants, the plant is now rarely found both in culture and in the wild. The numerous varieties and hybrids have taken their place, but can be used neither in the kitchen nor in medicine. Therefore, this article will tell you how to recognize the Real Lavender.
Real lavender versus lavandin
The biggest competitor is the Lavender (Lavandula angustifolia) of the hybrid Lavandin, a cross between the Real and the High Speiklavendel (Lavandula latifolia). This cultivated lavender is also the one that is mostly grown on the endless lavender fields of Provence and Tuscany. In the garden as well as in the wild - whereby the Lavandin does not become wild - you can differentiate the two kinds above all from their height as well as their leaves. The following table gives you an overview.
When buying look for additives such as "fine" or "extra"
If you want to buy lavender oil, then look for the additives "fine" or "extra" - only then you will actually purchase the oil of the real lavender. Since the yield of pure oil in real lavender is only very meager, it also achieves correspondingly expensive prices and is often replaced in the industry by the inferior oil of lavandin or even by artificial flavorings. These may smell similarly beguiling, but they do not have the same medicinal or culinary effects.
Tips
Even the puffy lavender cultivated in pots can be well distinguished from the true lavender by the characteristic shape of its flowers. The flower ear of the Schopflavendels has, as the name already suggests, a clear "head" on. In addition, the plant remains significantly smaller than other types of lavender.