Lavender

Lavender is a medicinal plant that has a long history of consumption in Persian medicine. The most prominent medicinal use has been for neurological disorders in a way that it has been called "the brain scavenger". There are different opinions about its botanical description in Persian medicine sources that implied to the use of various plants as lavender in different ages.

In this paper, three species belonging to the Lamiaceae family including Lavandula stoechas L, Lavandula angustifolia Mill., and Nepeta menthoides Boiss. were investigated and their botanical descriptions were compared with what has said about the identity of lavender in Persian medicine literature.

The investigations revealed that the definition of Lavender (Ustukhuddus) in Persian medicine mainly corresponds to the characteristics of Lavandula stoechas. It should be noted that from the middle of the 20th century, Nepeta menthoides has been introduced to the Iranian medicinal plant market as lavender and replaced the Roman lavender.

The results of this work could be the research source of medicinal plants scientists to work on each of these species.