476 LABIATE. 



Africa the staple oil-seed is Ground-nut {Arachis hyijogcua L. p. 186). 

 The chief {)lace for the manufacture of sesame oil is Marseilles. 



Uses — Good sesame oil might be employed without disadvantage 

 for all the purposes for which olive oil is used.^ As its congealing 

 point is some degrees below that of olive oil, it is even more fitted for 

 cool climates. Sesame seeds are largely consumed as food both in India 

 and Tropical Africa. The foliage of the plant abounds in mucilage, and 

 in the United States is sometimes used in the form of poultice. 



LABIATE. 



FLORES LAVANDULiE. 



Lavender Flowers; F. Fleurs de Lavande ; G. Lavendelhlumen. 



Botanical Origin — Lavandula vera DC, a shrubby plant growing 

 in the wild state from 1 to 2 feet high, but attaining 3 feet or more 

 under cultivation. It is indigenous to the mountainous regions of the 

 countries bordering the western half of the Mediterranean basin. Thus 

 it occurs in Eastern Spain, Southern France (extending northward to 

 Lyons and Dau[)hiny), in Upper Italy, Corsica, Calabria and Northern 

 Africa, — on the outside of the olive region.^ In cultivation it grows 

 very well in the open air throughout the greater part of Germany and 

 as far north as Norway and Livonia ; the northern plant would even 

 a[)pear to be more fragrant, according to Schiibeler.^ 



History — There has been much learned investigation in oider to 

 identify lavender in the writings of the classical authors, but the result 

 has not been satisfactory, and no allusion has been found which 

 unquestionably refers either to L. vera or to L. Spica* whereas L. 

 Stwchas was ])erfectly familiar to the ancients. 



The earliest mention of lavender that we have observed, occurs in 

 the writings of the abbess Hildegard,^ who lived near Bingen on the 

 Rhine during the 12th century, and who in a chapter De Lavendula 

 alludes to the strong odour and many virtues of the plant. In a poem 

 of the school of Salerno entitled Flos Medicincti^ occur the following 

 lines : — 



' ' Salvia, castoreuin, lavendula, primula veiis, 

 Nasturtium, athanas haec sanant paralytica membra. " 



In 1387 cushions of satin were made for King Charles VI. of France, 

 to be stuffed with " lavende."'' Its use was also popular at an early 

 period in the British isles, for we find " LAafant " or " Llafanllys " 

 mentioned among the remedies of the " Physicians of Myddvai."* And 



* For pharmaceutical uses, the larger ■* F. de Gingins-Lassaraz, /list, dts La- 

 proportion of olein and consequent lesser vaudex, Geneve et Paris, 1826. 

 tendency to solidify, should be remem- ^ Opera Omnia, accurante J. P. Migne, 

 bered. Paris, 1855. 1143. 



- On Mont Ventoux near Avignon, the ® S. do Renzi, Collectio Salernitana, Na- 



region of Lavandula vera is comprised, ac- l>oli, i. 417-516. 



cording to Martins, between 1500 and 4500 ' Douet d'Arcq, C'omjiteH de VAryenierie 



feet above the sea-level. — Ann. den Sc. des rois de France, ii. (1874) 148. 



Nat.. Bot. X. (1838) 145. 149. ' Meddygon Myddfai (see Appendix) 



* PJlanzenivelt NoricofjetiM, Christiania 287. 

 (1873-1875) 260. 



