Niaouli oil

Verbena, a somewhat scraggly shrub, is much loved for the powerful lemon scent of its foliage. This fragrance led to the plant being nicknamed lemon verbena. The waffled leaves are of a pretty shade of bright green and are covered in secretory glands containing the essential oil. Summertime is when its small, pale lavender flowers bloom, forming terminal spikes. The flowering stems are reaped in July and August and immediately distilled. The resulting essential oil is herbaceous, with a refreshing citral character. The aromatic verbena, Lippia citriodora, should not be confused with lemongrass, Verbena officinalis, with properties similar to those of melissa or lemon balm, or with the verbena used for herbal tea, Dracocephalum moldavica.

Originally from Latin America (Chile, Peru, and Argentina), verbena was introduced to Europe by 17th-century Spanish conquistadors. It is now grown around the Mediterranean basin, especially in France and North Africa, as well as in the West Indies, Reunion Island, and India. Verbena has many botanical names: Lippia citriodora, Aloysia citriodora, Aloysia triphylla, Lippia triphylla, and Verbena triphylla. The common name comes from the Latin verbennae, referring to branches of laurel, olive, myrtle, and verbena, clustered together. With time, this term came to mean only verbena.

Lemon or lemon-scented verbena – not to be confused with its relative, vervein, Verbena officinialis – is a native of South America (Chile and Peru). It was introduced to North Africa, India, Australia, the Caribbean islands and the island of Reunion and reached Europe around 1760. It is a perennial, deciduous, slender shrub which reaches about 1.5 m (5 ft) in height, less in temperate regions. The leaves are long, pale green and pointed, and the flowers are tubular, purple and grow in terminal clusters. The entire plant smells strongly of lemon.

Lippia comes from Augustin Lippi, a seventeenth-century Italian naturalist. The plant is now more correctly defined as Aloysia citriodora, although it is also know as Verbena or Lippia triphylla.

In Parte pratica de botanica (1784), Palau y Verdera was one of the first to describe the plant, giving its therapeutic values as a fortifier, regularizer of the nervous system, and a stomachic; he said it helped with bad digestion and flatulence, nervous palpitations, dizziness and hysteria.

Ginger, native to China, is a large, hardy, tropical herbaceous plant. It is an emblematic member of the Zingiberaceae, a family it shares with other celebrated spices like cardamom and turmeric. Ginger’s aromatic rhizome forms buds from which emerge leafy stems. The plant’s shape is similar to that of reeds. The essential oil, which lies in the cells beneath the rhizome’s epidermis, is extracted by steam distillation. Its spicy, warm fragrance has citrus notes, characteristic of the plant’s Asian origins.

Considered a panacea in Asia, ginger can be found in every pharmacopoeia on that continent. The “ancient” Indians viewed it as the mahaoushadha or great medicine. Ginger has been consumed in Asia and India since ancient times and was introduced to Europe in the Middle Ages by Arab spice merchants. Today, ginger is still grown in parts of Asia, where the tropical climate creates favorable conditions. In China, ginger rhizomes are harvested once a year, when the leafy stems become yellow. They are cleaned, brushed, and then dried for one to two weeks. The rhizomatous stumps are then pulverized, dried, and sieved before being distilled to make the essential oil.

Clove is spice that native from Maluku island, Indonesia and has been used for centuries as food preservative and many medicinal purpose. This spice is frequently cultivated from coastal areas (maximum 200 m above sea level). Flower buds are collected in maturation phase after 4 years of plantation. The trade and search of this valuable spice  stimulated the economic development of Asiatic region. Nowadays, the larger producer of clove are Indonesia, Malaysia, India, Sri Lanka, Tanzania.  Clove as a rich source of antioxidants for the treatment of memory deficits caused by oxidative stress. Clove contains high polyphenols and antioxidant compounds.

The employment of clove as analgesic have been reported since the 13th century, for toothache, join pain and antispasmodic, being the eugenol the main compound responsable for this activity. The antioxidant activity of eugenol are multifunctional as reducing agents, hydrogen atom donators, and singlet oxygen scavengers.

Eugenol, is a clear to pale yellow oily liquid extracted from certain essential oils especially from clove oil, nutmeg, cinnamon, and bay leaf. Eugenol, a component of clove, may reduce the ability to feel and react to painful stimulation. Therefore, use of clove products on the skin with other numbing or pain-reducing products such as lidocaine / prilocaine cream, theoretically it may increase the effects.

 

Active Ingredients

Eugenol Beta-caryophyllene Eugenyl acetate

Patchouli, an evergreen subshrub, is a tropical aromatic plant that thrives in the rich, shady soil of its native land of Indonesia. Along its upright stems are large, velvety green leaves containing the precious fragrance of patchouli. The name even honors the foliage: “patchouli” comes from the Tamil patch which means “green” and ilai which means “leaf.” The essential oil accumulates in the leaves’ secretory glands, principally in the young leaves, meaning that only the more recent above-ground portions of the plant are harvested for extraction, providing better yield during distillation and letting the plants regenerate faster. Patchouli heart is obtained after traditional patchouli essential oil has undergone rectification. This method is used to enrich the extract’s patchoulol content, the molecule responsible for the characteristic patchouli odor. This scent of the heart is therefore more powerfully woody and earthy, as well as nobler.

The smell of patchouli was discovered in the West through importation of scented shawls from India and Indonesia. This addictive fragrance remained a mystery until 1844, the year that saw the arrival of the first shipment of patchouli leaves in London. Since that time, patchouli has left its charismatic olfactory mark on history. As the fragrance symbol of the Sixties hippie movement, the scent expresses freedom and sensuality.