Jan heads off early to the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew to catch the closing hours of the Orchid Festival. It should be a good day, because more than 100,000 exotic orchid flowers from every continent will be on display. This year’s Festival emphasises the story of the discovery of some of the best-known species.

The Orchidaceae is a large, ancient family of perennial plants with one fertile stamen and a three-petalled flower. One petal is unlike the other two. In most orchid species this petal is enlarged into a pouch or lip and is the most conspicuous part of the flower.  There are close to forty thousand known orchid species, and there may be thousands more that have not yet been discovered and maybe thousands that once lived on earth and are now extinct. Man has created another hundred thousand hybrids by cross-fertilizing one species with another or by crossing different hybrids to one another in plant-breeding laboratories.

Orchids are considered the most highly evolved flowering plants on earth.  They are unusual in form, uncommonly beautiful in colour, often powerfully fragrant, intricate in structure, and different from any other family of plants.  Jan and I love them, and have been keen collectors for more than thirty years. The reason for their unusualness has always been pondered over.
One suggestion is that orchids might have evolved in soil that was naturally irradiated by a meteor or mineral deposit, and that the radiation is what mutated them into thousands of amazing forms.  Orchids have diverse and unflowerlike looks.

In 1678 the botanist Jakob Breyne wrote: “The manifold shape of these flowers arouses our highest admiration.  They take on the form of little birds, of lizards, of insects.  They look like a man, like a woman, sometimes like an austere, sinister fighter, sometimes like a clown  who excites our laughter. They represent the image of a lazy tortoise, a melancholy toad, an agile, ever-chattering monkey.” What more can I say?!  Nothing in science can account for the way people feel about orchids. They are the sexiest flowers on earth.

The name “orchid”derives from the Latin orchis, which means testicle.  This refers not only to the testicle-shaped tubers of the plant but to the fact that it was long believed that orchids sprang from the spilled semen of mating animals.  The British Herbal Guide of 1653 advised that orchids be used with discretion: “They are hot and moist in operation, under the dominion of Venus, and provoke lust exceedingly.” Orchids seem to drive people crazy. Those who love them love them madly. Orchids arouse passion more than romance.

In Edwardian times “orchi-delirium” grew to such proportions that the Hon. Alicia Amherst noted that the natural habitat of many of them had been destroyed to feed the public demand and that at auctions successful bidders would pay over 1,000 guineas for a tiny plant of a new variety.  Currently, the international trade in orchids is more than $10 billion a year, and some individual rare plants have sold for more than $25,000. I hope that Jan has left her credit cards behind!

Making it plain.

I was delighted to read the definitive statement by the Chair of the ARWG which made it quite clear that the AOC register is “....separate from the ARWG and does not form part of the ARWG’s regulatory process” and that there is “....no transitional or pre-transitional register for the ARWG....”.

Great I thought, just the clarification that many aromatherapists were looking for but then I read the comments of the AOC Chair where she appears to be contradicting the ARWG Chair and adding to the confusion.  So, some facts as I see them.

I was pleased to hear from Ian Smith, IFPA Council co-chair, because he always makes plain what others sometimes obfuscate. My son Justin, also a scientist like Ian, accuses me of frequent obfuscation: it must have something to do with an ‘Arts’background. Nevertheless let me cut the cackle and get to Ian’s points.....

1. The aromatherapy regulatory process is in the hands of the ARWG, an independent body with a lay chair and made up of representatives of aromatherapy practitioner organisations together with lay members.

2. Entry to any register established by the ARWG will be governed by entry requirements set by the ARWG and all aromatherapists who meet the entry criteria will be able to apply - existing registers will not be ‘transferred’.  The AOC register is simply a register of practitioners, similar to those run by most practitioner organisations, accordingly it does not have a special place in the regulatory process.

3. All aromatherapy practitioner organisations prepared to help fund the process are welcome as voting members of the ARWG and I urge all of them to become involved.

Thanks for that Ian, because several had confessed to being confused.

FHT launches new Association.
The FHT [Federation of Holistic Therapists] have formed a new Association to represent the interests of all their Clinical Therapists and by doing so have given their current members a choice as to their future or current employment. Those not working in clinical environments may continue to enjoy all the substantial benefits of their current association, but those who are clinical therapists practising Aromatherapy, Reflexology, Remedial Massage or other complementary therapies need to join PACT.

PACT, which is recognised by the lead bodies currently working towards formalised regulation, is the new name for the Professional Association of Clinical Therapists.

At present the task of drawing up common standards of practice for CAM therapies is being done by individual therapy groupings such as the Reflexology Forum, the Aromatherapy Regulatory Working Group, the General Council for Massage Therapies, etc. These groups will seek in future to establish Registers of Practitioners in order to demonstrate Voluntary Self-Regulation, which in turn may lead eventually to State[sic] Registration.  Quite rightly, those FHT members who work in the clinical environment wish to be involved in this process.

PACT will safeguard the interests of its members by holding a seat and voting rights on each of these bodies.  The finance to run these groups will come mainly from practitioners and therefore each PACT member will contribute £10 a year in addition to their FHT membership fees as an Annual Registration Fee. This additional charge will cover all therapies under review.

Want to be a member? Are you working in a clinical environment as a therapist?  Do you qualify already for full membership with another FHT society or do you have a qualification from one of the other bodies represented on the Regulatory Working Groups? Do you have Professional Indemnity Insurance cover of at least £3 million with the FHT or cover provided by your employer? Can you commit to fulfilling 16 hours of compulsory [a Working Group requirement] Continuing Professional Development per year either on FHT Seminar and Qualification Programmes or with another approved trainer? If yes, telephone 02380 488900 to join and you will receive a Member’s Badge and Certificate for free.   
Remember to tell them which treatments you use in a clinical environment so that they pay the right registration fees on your behalf.

Early warning?
Meanwhile I received recently the following cautionary e-mail.......

When I read of the progress towards Statutory Registration of Aromatherapists I worry for the profession.  We osteopaths have been there already and I wonder what it has achieved apart from us having to pay ludicrously high fees every year.

Over 80% of osteopaths report no increase or fewer patients since registration than before, and we pay £750 per year for the privilege!  [Plus £1,500 to get onto the Register in the first place].

The “educationalists” have got hold of the courses and, having spent most of last weekend trying to help one of my ex-students through the latest demands of his course, I despair. Hundreds of pages of documentation little to do with osteopathy but all deemed essential to prove he is fit to practise! Please do not let the aromatherapists suffer in the same way.

My correspondent prompts an interesting question.  When the Osteopaths Act 1993 was implemented the title “osteopath” became protected by law. The statutory General Osteopathic Council (GOsC) was formally established in January 1997 and the statutory register of osteopaths opened in the first quarter of 1998.  By 2000 nearly 2,000 osteopaths had registered and a further 1300 had declared their interest in registering. Therefore, if my figures are correct, this should have provided a fairly healthy start and I am a little surprised that osteopaths still have to pay so much. Why, and for what? The answer could give a clue to the future cost of statutory registration for aromatherapy.   

As for “educationalists” I can but mention a couple of quotations which come readily to mind.....Examinations are formidable even to the best prepared, for the greatest fool may ask more than the wisest man can answer [ Charles Caleb Cotton c.1780-1832]..... Nothing in education is so astonishing as the amount of ignorance it accumulates in the form of inert facts [Henry Brooks Adams 1838-1918]. However perhaps I should mention also that I was severely thrashed (again) for including such quotes in my school essays!

Nevertheless who is responsible for education in aromatherapy? I only ask because I was a little confused by the response of the Editor of International Therapist to my comments about Sandalwood and Rosewood in the last Newsletter.

The FHT does appreciate the ethical and moral dilemmas highlighted in Chrissie Wildwood’s article about the harvest and use of essential oils such as Sandalwood and Rosewood.  However, all qualifying bodies (not just VTCT) have to ensure that the qualifications they offer adhere to National Occupational Standards, which currently require all students to have a working knowledge of Sandalwood and Rosewood. The qualifying bodies obviously have to abide by Government requirements.

Fine, but who specifies the requirements?  Surely it can’t be Government demanding that aromatherapists have a working knowledge of Sandalwood and Rosewood. If it is, I need to have a word with some of my Whitehall chums!

Plant Quest to Brazil.
Believing that I should practise what I preach, I resolved to find a plausible alternative to Rosewood (Aniba duckei Kostermans).  As I have mentioned in the past [Hon, Ho and Yu: Newsletter 128], I do not think Ho-Wood (Cinnamomum camphora L.) a substitute.  I reach for the atlas.

Where better to start my quest than Brazil?  After all the Brazilians themselves must be as concerned as any about the conservation of their medicinal and aromatic plants. Almost two thirds of the biological diversity of the world is found in tropical zones. Brazil is considered the country with the greatest biodiversity on the planet, with nearly 55,000 native species distributed over six major biomes.

By the way, the eagle-eyed may have spotted the unfamiliar binomial, Aniba duckei, for Rosewood.  In the past, so I learn from the Brazilian scientific literature, Cayenne Bois de Rose (Aniba rosaeodora Ducke) and Bois de Rose or Rosewood (Aniba duckei Kostermans) were the principal sources of the terpenic alcohol linalool. From the wood of these trees an oil containing up to 90% of linalool was obtained. Overharvesting lead to the extinction of A. rosaeodora and made A. duckei the endangered species.  Therefore it seems that my botanical nomenclature may have been awry for quite a while, although some references still suggest that they are in fact synonymous. Whatever, on with the quest!

Thirty odd years ago, researchers investigated several Amazonian species searching for alternative sources of linalool [Gottlieb, O.R. et al. 1971. Oleos Essenciais da Amazonia Contendo Linalol . Acta Amazonica, 1, 45-47]. They succeeded in finding a shrub called Sacaca (Croton cajucara Benth.), which originates from the Tupi sake’ka which means witchcraft.  The leaf oil was found to contain 66% linalool.

The leaves and bark of C. cajucara have been used in Amazonian folk medicine for the treatment of diabetes, malaria, gastrointestinal and liver disorders, and to lower the cholestrol level in the blood [Dr. Elizabeth van den Berg, Museu Paraense Emilio Goeldi, Belem].

The Brazilians speculate that, if its effectiveness were proven in clinical trials, its use for the control of cholestrol could be a winner in the northern hemisphere and among the middle and upper classes of the world where cholestrol worries are de rigueur. Recently the dry leaves have been put into gelatin capsules that are sold in the natural product shops of both Manaus and Belem for cholestrol control.

Sacaca is found only in eastern and central Amazon.  A small tree, with elliptical leaves, it is generally found as a second growth weed, appearing soon after small plots are abandoned or natural clearings are formed in low lying forest areas. Sacaca is extremely rustic and grows easily in degraded and abandoned fields.  It seems to be undemanding of soils, growing well on yellow clay of low fertility near Manaus.

What are the chances that the Brazilians might develop this alternative to rosewood? Well, let’s look at it from their perspective. Amazonia exported a total of 6.5 tonnes of rosewood essential oil to the United States, Germany, the United Kingdom, Spain, France and Japan in 1984. In the same year, Brazil imported approximately 17.5 tonnes of linalool and its derivatives from Germany, the United Kingdom, the United States, Japan, Switzerland and France.

These data show that Brazil imports refined products from the same countries to which it exports the natural essence of rosewood. In other words, Brazil is paying a lot for not processing its own natural products. Nonetheless, a majority of the imports are beauty products that are sold more by name than by their chemical content and so it does not seem very likely that Brazil will be able to substitute easily these products. Rather, sacaca essential oil and sacaca-derived linalool could be sold as an option to save rosewood from extinction.       

No agronomic work has been done with sacaca to date. It is known, however, that sacaca shows very vigorous vegetative growth, similar to many second-growth invaders, suggesting that it is a pioneer plant. Exploitation of this vigorous growth offers the promise of developing sacaca as a new crop.

Although the leaf oil of C. cajucara contains only half the linalool content [Lopes, D. et al. Linalool-Rich Essential Oil from Leaves of Croton cajucara Benth. J. Essent. Oil Res., 12, 705-708 (Nov/Dec 2000] when compared with Rosewood oil, it appears to be a good alternative for the perfumery industry and, I would have thought, also aromatherapy.  The oil is rich in linalool and has many terpene and sesquiterpene alcohols.  It could be used as a primary source of linalool, particularly if chiral analysis demonstrate that the oil is enriched enantiomerically. It could be used also as a whole because I am sure that it would have wide appeal, if only for its very pleasant aroma. Furthermore the oil comes from the leaves, and so there is no need to harvest a tree.  Production could be implemented by local farmers in small properties, thus creating a sustainable alternative to the exploitation of the endangered Aniba duckei.  What do you think?

Other thoughts and comments.
Peter O’Rourke e-mails from Sarasota in Florida.....Having read Chrissie Wildwood’s impassioned article, I am prompted to share with you a couple of thoughts of my own.

Peter has been a professional herbalist and an aromatherapist for over twenty years, and like Chrissie Wildwood has become increasingly concerned over the matter of “Endangered Species” as they apply to essential oils, and more recently over the passion for “Wild Crafted” products. He tells a sobering story.....

Many moons ago I witnessed the extinction of several varieties of Turkestana Tulips, as former opium poppy farmers in Turkey turned to collecting native Turkish tulips to meet the demands of gardeners in the UK.  These wild-gathered bulbs - offered for sale by a very reputable bulb supplier - found their way into many English borders, where they perished after one or two seasons. When would-be buyers approached the aforementioned supplier they were informed that these varieties were ‘no longer available’.  It was only after some close examination of the sources that the reason for their non-availability was revealed: after only five years of exploitation, extinction in the wild.

Unlicensed and unregulated ‘wild crafting’is death to many species of plants, which are gathered by indigenous farmers, who need the money, however little it may be, and are unconcerned about the long term view.

Peter’s story reminded me that tulips, although not grown in Turkey before 1500, were first introduced to Europe, in Vienna in 1554, from Turkey.  Such was their success that eighty years later there was ‘tulipomania’ in Holland, with great speculation in bulbs especially those with ‘broken’ flowers, i.e., infested with aphid-transmitted virus, which were already complex garden hybrids and gave rise to the common tulip of modern gardens.  

Getting me back on track, Peter suggests that we consider Palmarosa (Cymbopogon martini Staph. var. motia) as a substitute for rosewood. Comparing the chemical components and properties of the two, he soon has me convinced.  Palmarosa could be used for all the skin conditions that are indicated for rosewood.  For meditation, however, he would choose Elemi (Canarium luzonicum (Miq.) A. Gray) or Frankincense (Boswellia carteri Birdw.).

Ever-helpful, he gave me a couple of blends for us to try: 10 drops of Palmarosa with 2 drops of Rose Otto, or 3 drops of Helichrysum, for skin problems; 10 drops of Palmarosa with 2 drops of Tea Tree for fungal problems, particularly thrush and cystitis; and 10 drops of Palmarosa with 2 drops of Frankincense, or 3 drops of Elemi, for relaxing the mind.  Let me know how you get on.
 
Sandalwood’s future?
Peter comments.....The plight and future of Sandalwood is frightening.   Several thousand years of demands from Ayurvedic practitioners, and wealthy nobles in India who insist on being cremated on sandalwood pyres, have contributed largely to the demise of Santalum album, long before essential oil users discovered its benefits.

I would not disagree, and my Indian colleagues suggest that the demands of the Indian chewing tobacco industry will put the final nail in the coffin.  In which case, we should get used perhaps to getting by without it.

Good though it may be as a pulmonary antiseptic, I am sure that there are other oils which will suffice as well.  Its use for the treatment of various infections of the urinary tract I would have thought unwise and, in any event, probably better left to medical professionals. Several  will undoubtedly miss its alluring aroma, but that I shall leave to the ingenuity of perfumers.

Meanwhile do I feel a plant quest to India coming on?!
 
Indian Ocean Idyll.
I have just come back from a wonderful holiday on the beautiful island of Mauritius, e-mailed Shelagh Wadman.  Lucky girl! A quest there would be most pleasant!  The jardin de fleurs was packed with different kinds of herbs, flowers and plants: Red Bottlebrush, Cryptomeria and Pink Pepper.

I have not been to Mauritius for very many years, but was involved quite recently in advising upon aromatic plant growing there and on the island of Rodrigues. It was good to hear that something is happening.

I remember well Red Bottlebrush (Callistemon citrinus (Curtis) Skeels) from Australia, where the Aborigines suck the nectar.  Callistemon citrinus is the most widely cultivated member of the genus both in Australia and overseas.  The plant’s most notable feature is its brilliant red flowers which appear most heavily in late spring/early summer, beckoning jewel-like hummingbirds to feast.

A quick scan of the reference books reveals nothing about its therapeutic properties, but Shelagh reports that some essential oil of ‘Crimson Callistemon’, mixed with coconut and almond oils, fends off mosquitoes to good effect.  Essential oil?  That’s interesting! Where do I get some? Shelagh most generously sent me some, and I currently await the results of Bill Morden’s analysis. I suspect that the clue lies in its name, citrinus or lemon-scented.

Cryptomeria: that does take me back!  Years ago having returned recently from island life in the South Pacific I was still quite restless and contemplated quite seriously moving to the Azores (strange that they should have been in the news so recently).  After considerable research I thought it not such a good idea and started Essentially Oils instead. However I had made some good contacts there with producers of essential oil of Cryptomeria japonica (L.f.) D. Don, and it was one of the first oils on our product list.  It was an absolute flop, because I knew nothing of its therapeutic properties (if any), and I cannot recollect selling a drop.

Cryptomeria, called “Sugi” in Japanese, is occasionally designated in occidental literature as “Japanese Cypress” or “Japanese Cedar”, The wood used to be, and may well still be, one of the most important Japanese building and construction materials.

Since ancient times the wood has been used also for the making of barrels for “Sake”.  Sugi wood is said to impart its characteristic aroma to the drink. For the same reason tinctures of the wood, or solutions of its essential oil, are used for the flavouring of sake.

Oil can be produced from both root and leaf, and I recollect that it has a somewhat “woody” odour. Shelagh mentions that those in Mauritius consider it balancing and stimulating, useful in bath and massage blends, and soothing for sore muscles. Had I known that twenty years ago we might have sold some!

Pink Pepper (Schinus terebinthifolius Raddi) is interesting. Commonly called Brazil pepper tree, or Christmasberry-tree, this plant has a reputation for being a cause of dermatitis and respiratory problems.  Its nectar is intoxicating to birds but good for bees, and I wonder if its berries are not the same as those much favoured by a type of Malagasy blackbird. In fact the bird devours so many berries that, when cooked, its meat has a distinct peppery taste, but I digress! To know more, I would have to analyse its oil to discover if it is similar to that of Schinus molle L., California pepper tree, which is used in aromatherapy much as Black Pepper (Piper nigrum L.).

Mauritius promises much!

Finally......
Allergic contact dermatitis from the topical use of essential oils is not widely recognised as an occupational hazard. Four cases of allergic contact dermatitis to essential oils occurring in three aromatherapists and one chemist with a particular interest in aromatherapy are described in a recent Australian report [Bleasel, N.; Tate, B.; Rademaker, M.  Allergic contact dermatitis following exposure to essential oils.  Australasian Journal of Dermatology (2002), 43(3), 211-213].

All presented with predominantly hand dermatitis and demonstrated sensitization to multiple essential oils. One patient developed a recurrence of cutaneous symptoms following ingestion of lemongrass tea.

The report suggests that workers within this industry should be aware of the sensitization potential of these products and the risk of of limiting their ability to continue employment. 

Comments please!      


charles@essentiallyoils.com
 

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