🔼: [[🛠 Medicinal Plants 🌿]] #### Lavender (Lavandula officinalis; L. angustifolia)[^1] Parts used: Flowers and leaves ##### Uses - Both relaxing and calming - Eases stress, tension, [[💡 Depression|depression]] and melancholy, [[Headaches]], and [[💡 Insomnia|insomnia]]. - An effective antibacterial, antifungal, and antiseptic. ##### Using Lavender A lavender extract called Silexan has been clinically studied and shown to have anti-depressive effects similar to Zoloft[^2] and has been approved as a medication for anxiety in a dozen European countries. The German pharmaceutical company (Schwabe) that manufacturers it has made it available over the counter in the US as CalmAid ([affiliate link](https://link.amazon/B0a9T1Hcz)). Silexan works best if you take two capsules once a day or one capsule twice a day (morning and evening). The only known side effect is lavender-flavored burps, which makes me feel like a woodland creature. - Staph, strep, colds, flus. - Use on its own or with [[Tea Tree Oil]] applied to the skin to treat fungal infections like ringworm or nail fungus, or as an antiseptic douche for yeast infections. - Scrapes, wounds, burns. - Mix with [[🌿 St. John's Wort]], [[🌿 Oats]], and [[🌿 Lemon Balm]] as a [[💡 Tea]] or [[💡 Tinctures|Tincture]] for [[💡 Grief|Grief]], [[💡 Heartbreak|heartbreak]], and [[💡 Depression|depression]] - Tie a few sprigs into a muslin bag and keep in your pillow for sweeter [[💡 Dreams|dreams]] or to disinfect and scent clothes drawers. ###### Lavender Bath Add to your bathwater - Few drops of [[🌿 Lavender]] [[Essential Oils]] - 1-2 oz dried lavender, tied in a muslin bag Alternatively, rub a few drops of the essential oil onto the fingertips and [[🛠 Self-Massage]] the neck, head, and feet. ##### Related - [[On Plant Medicine Dosage...]] - [[🦮 How to Source Herbs]] [^1]: [[📖 ✅ Herbs for Stress & Anxiety - How to Make and Use Herbal Remedies to Strengthen the Nervous System]] [^2]: S Kasper, 162. EFFICACY OF SILEXAN IN PATIENTS WITH A MAJOR DEPRESSIVE EPISODE – RESULTS FROM A MULTI-CENTRE, DOUBLE-BLIND, RANDOMISED, PLACEBO- AND REFERENCE-CONTROLLED PHASE III TRIAL, _International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology_, Volume 28, Issue Supplement_2, August 2025, Page ii61, [https://doi.org/10.1093/ijnp/pyaf052.123](https://doi.org/10.1093/ijnp/pyaf052.123)