Lavandin abrial EO Organic
Origin: France

• Details and product description

  Introduction:

  Lavandins are sterile hybrids of true lavender and spike lavender. In addition to the so-called "ordinary" variety which is the hybrid found in the spontaneous state, starting in 1920, controlled hybridization of selections produced the following cultivars: - France: Abrial, Super, Grosso, 33-70, 41-70, Super Maïme, Sumian, Joubert, 32 Greuther - Italy: RC, Italico - USA: Dutch lavandin - Bulgaria, Russia: numerous selections. The natural hybridization between true lavender (Lavandula angustifolia) and spike lavender (Lavandula spica), produced wild lavenders, locally called "Grand Lavender," "Grosso Lavender" or "Bastard Lavender." Like any hybrid, lavandin is sterile. New plants are propagated by cuttings, which produces a uniform line called a "clone." This explains the homogeneous and regular appearance of fields of lavandin. Lavandin is a perennial and a sturdy herbaceous plant, with a height of 50 to 70 cm. Its leaves are larger than those of its progenitors. Fuzzy in winter and green in summer, they resemble sage leaves. The woody flower stems, which are very branchy especially in the upper part, produce irregular, dark-blue flowers In comparison to lavender, much larger and rounder lavandin plants are strictly identical due to hybridization. Altitude also plays a major role in the differentiation between the two species: while lavandin grows at all altitudes (from sea level to more than 900 m), true lavender grows only from 350-400 m, never at lower altitudes.

  History:

  This plant has only been used industrially since 1920-1930. After the Second World War, it largely replaced lavender as a fragrance for laundry detergents and soaps since lavender was too expensive.                                     During the Second World War, lavandin essential oil was the raw material for the manufacture of linalool, linalyl acetate, citral, ionones, methy lionones, citronellal, and hydroxycitronellal. Haute Provence is still a major producer of lavandin despite successive crises, the degeneration that affected lavandin crops around 1960, the vagaries of the market and competition from imported species, especially synthetic essences. The first cloning of lavandin produced the "Abrial" cultivar, which would be the basis of the French lavender industry from 1920 to 1970. Unfortunately, this cultivar was attacked by a pathogenic micro-organism that shortened the life span of plants from 8-10 years to 3-4 years. In 1972, "Abrial" was replaced by "Grosso", which has been the dominant cultivar since 1975, along with "Super" discovered in the Alpilles.

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