LAVENDER. 355 
The L. spica, which is the only species besides Z. vera hardy in 
this country, was formerly considered only a variety of L. vera. 
It is distinguished by its lower habit; much whiter colour; the 
leaves more congested at the base of the branches, more persistent ; 
the spikes denser and shorter; the floral leaves lanceolate or linear; 
and the presence of linear and subulate bracts. L. spica yields by 
distillation an oil termed “ oil of spike,” or, to distinguish it from 
oil of L. Stechas, “true oil of spike.” It is darker in colour than 
the oil of Z. vera, and much less grateful in odour, reminding of 
turpentine and rancid cocoa-nut oil. It is used by painters on 
porcelain and in the manufacture of varnishes; it is often largely 
admixed with oil of turpentine. 
L. Stechas (Xtvyas) was discovered prior to the year 50 a.p. in 
the Steechades Islands (now the Islands of Hyéres, south of 
Toulon), hence the name. At present it is found wild in the 
South of Europe and North of Africa, also at Teneriffe. Its leaves 
are oblong linear, about half an inch long in the wild state and 
fully an inch long when cultivated, with revolute edges, and 
clothed with hoary tomentum on both surfaces; the spike is tetra- 
gonal, compact, with a tuft of purple leaves at the top; the calyces 
are ovate and slightly shorter than the tube of the corolla. The 
whole plant has a strong aromatic and agreeable flavour. There 
is a variety of this species (L. macrostachya), native of Corsica, 
Sicily, and Naples, which has broader leaves and thicker octagonal 
spikes. 
LL. Stechas is known in Spain as “ Romero Santo”? (Holy Rose- 
mary). Its essential oil (also that of L. dentata) is there extracted 
for household use, by suspending the fresh flowering stalks, flowers 
downwards, in closed bottles and exposing them for some time in 
the sun’s rays ; a mixture of water and essential oil collects at the 
bottom, which is used as a hemostatic and for cleansing wounds. 
The sp. gr. of Spanish oil of L. Stechas is 0°942 at 15° C. It boils 
between 180° and 245° C. The odour of this oil is not at all sug- 
gestive of that of lavender, but resembles more that of rosemary, 
possessing also the camphoraceous odour of that oil. In India 
this oil is much prized as an expectorant and antispasmodic. 
The other species which are distinctly characterized are L. pe- 
dunculata, L. viridis, L. dentata, L. heterophylla, L. Pyrenaica, 
L. pinnata, L. coronopifolia, L. abrotanoides, L. Lawii, and 
L. multifida. The L. multifida is synonymous with L. Burmannii. 
242 
