Lavender? Spike Lavender? French lavender? True lavender? It can be downright confusing when someone says, “Just try Lavender!” Isn’t Lavender, just Lavender?

I wish it were that easy. There are over 40 known species of Lavender. Let me explain to you what you need to know so that you pick out the best type for you.

Lavender is the general name, what most people will refer to. But as with a lot of essential oils, there are many species or “types”. So if you see a bottle from an essential oil company that just says Lavender without listing its species, pass on it. It is fundamental for all reputable companies to list the Latin name on their bottles.

As I stated above, you need to know the Latin name. This distinguishes one type of Lavender from another. The Latin name should be italicized.

The first word is the genus. This is a more generalized classification and it always capitalized.

The second word is the species. This is more specific and begins with a lower case letter.

Think of it this way. The genus is like the parents. The species is like the siblings. While they share parents, they are different from each other.

Let’s take a look at the two most popular species: True Lavender and Spike Lavender.

True Lavender (general name)

Latin name: Lavandula angustifolia

Spike Lavender (general name)

Latin name: Lavandula latifolia

They both share the same genus, Lavandula.

However, they both have different species names. This means that are different. They both have different qualities due to different chemical constituents. Let’s compare the two.

True Lavender Lavandula angustifolia	Spike Lavender Lavandula latifolia
Steam distilled from flower	Steam distilled from flower
Middle-Top Note	Middle Note
Relaxing, calming	Stimulating, Promotes alertness
Gentle	Has 1,8 cineole and camphor
Generally safe for children	Not recommended for children
Generally ok for pregnancy	Not recommended for pregnancy
Skin healing	Skin penetrating
Great for tension headaches	Great for sinus headaches
Helps relieve congestion	Helps ease cough due to congestion
Helpful at night	Could keep you awake at night
Good addition to blends used for pain or inflammation	Wonderful for painful muscles and inflammation

I hope this helps with the “Great Lavender Mystery”. While not exactly the most pressing mystery on Earth, you can say you learned something new today. And you can tell people you speak Latin. Sort of. :)