And girls in slacks remember Dad,
And oafish louts remember Mum,
And sleepless children’s hearts are glad,
And Christmas-morning bells say ‘Come!’
John Betjeman 1906-84: ‘Christmas’ (1954)

Fifty years ago was I sleepless child or oafish lout, and did girls wear slacks?

From memory, I think that I was not yet oafish lout because I recollect having a sleepless Christmas Eve that year in the anticipation that I might be given a full-bore rifle - today the thought quite frightens me!  My father, an accomplished rifle shot of some distinction, had hinted many months before that I might be ready to graduate from my familiar .22 to a .303.  However not another word had since been uttered.

I remember, as though it was yesterday, my unrestrained excitement at spotting the familiar shape within its Christmes wrapping underneath the tree - how wonderful to still be a child (or perhaps today, aged 12½, one is no longer a child and doesn’t get excited anymore?) - but first I had to attend the summons of the Christmas-morning bells. 

Well-used to attending church throughout the year, it never failed to surprise me how the usually empty pews were crammed to overflowing with unfamiliar souls.  In fact it was all rather competitive, as ample ladies dressed like bears (fur was de rigueur) jostled with established  worshippers for prime position - I was often left standing in the aisle.  Had I been an oafish lout I would have undoubtedly secured a seat next to a girl clad in slacks, but I doubt very much that on such a flamboyant occasion any young lady would have permitted herself to be so informally attired. As it was I had to endure ninety minutes of discordant purgatory, shifting impatiently from foot to foot, whilst merry adults belted out familiar carols.

Nevertheless, once home, it all seemed worth the wait as my anxious fingers tore urgently at the festive packaging to reveal the polished stock and blue-black firing mechanism. I used that rifle in target competitions for many years - it was my most treasured possession, and the best Christmas present that I can remember!     

Yuletide plants?
Hi Charles, my daughter has a school project.  How many trees, plants, etc. with the prefix ‘Christmas’ can you think of? Botanical names also, if you can? e-mailed a desperate Mum. Good heavens!  Do they set these questions for parents or children?  Eschewing any aid from the Internet, which I rarely use in any event because, if I did, I would probably have no time to do anything else, I scratched my head.

Christmas tree, but which tree is it?  To be honest, I wasn’t sure and so thought it wise to seek advice from the forestry staff at Blenheim who, every year at Christmas, purvey a fine selection of the Duke of Marlborough’s conifers outside the Palace gates in Woodstock.
 
In UK it seems that Norwegian spruce (Picea abies (L.) H. Karst) is the wearer of the name but, on the Continent, European silver fir (Abies alba Mill.) is more likely to have the epithet. However, in Australia it is the orange-flowered  flame-tree (Nuytsia floribunda (Labill.) R.Br. ex G. Don f.) which is called the Christmas tree and in New Zealand the medicinal pohutukawa (Metrosideros excelsa Sol. ex Gaertner) has the claim, for it is at this time of year when the pohutukawa blooms, and it is a reminder that before artificial tinsel became the norm, its red blossoms were used to adorn the Christmas trees of English colonists.

It floureth about Christmas, if the winter be mild and warm.....called Christ herbe, wrote John Gerard (1545-1607) of Christmas rose (Helleborus niger L.). It beareth rose-coloured flowers upon slender stems, growing immediately out of the ground, an handbreadth high, sometimes very white, ofttimes mixed with a little shew of purple, which being faded, there succeed small husks full of black seeds.

Once, people blessed their cattle with this plant to keep them from evil spirits, and for this purpose, it was dug up with certain mystic rites. In an old French romance, the sorcerer, to make himself invisible when passing through the enemy’s camp, scatters powdered Hellebore in the air, as he goes. I imagine that he is using the powdered rhizome, because it contains three crystalline cardiac glucosides: helleborin, helleborein and hellebrin. Of these, the last two have digitalis-like action, and helleborin is violently narcotic.  The drug was formerly much used in dropsy and amenorrhoea, and proved of value in nervous disorders and hysteria.

Christmas cactus (Schlumbergera x buckleyi (T. Moore) Tjaden) comes next to mind.  Apart from their wide appeal to specialist growers and collectors of the unusual [Jan and I amongst them!], cacti have few uses. The fleshy fruits of many are collected in their land of origin and eaten raw or made into jams or syrups.  Some are used for hedging, while those with woody skeletons are used for rustic furniture and trinkets. Opuntias, prickly pears, are grown commercially in parts of Mexico and California for their large juicy fruits.
Probably all the 87 genera are represented in cultivation, collectors being undeterred by difficulties of growing them.  The most popular genera among collectors are those that remain dwarf [several of our own are more than 1 metre high] and combine attractive spine colours and rib formations with freedom of flowering: e.g. Rebutia, Lobivia, Echinopsis, Mammillaria, Notocactus, Parodia, and Neoporteria. More for connoisseurs are the curiously squat, tuberculate, slow-growing species of Ariocarpus, Pelecyphora and Strombocactus. Melocactus, the “Turk’s cap cactus”, one of the first cacti to reach Europe, is unique for the large, furry inflorescence terminating the short, stumpy axis.

However, even more widely grown are the epiphytes, so dissimilar in habitat and requirements to the foregoing that many a cottage gardener cherishing a ‘Christmas cactus’ fails to associate it with cacti at all. The large-flowered epicacti are products of a long line of intergeneric crossings paralleled only in the orchids.  These are the only group of cacti where hybridization has been pursued on a grand scale, and the only group grown primarily for flowers. All make excellent Christmas presents, by the way!

Still, I had better push on more rapidly with my efforts otherwise it will be next Christmas before I am finished, and some poor girl will be bottom of the class!  But where to start? Alphabetically might not be a bad idea. 

Christmas Begonia (Begonia x cheimantha Everett ex C. Weber), also known as Lorraine or blooming-fool begonia [why, I wonder?]; Christmas Bell (Blandfordia spp.), the flowers of which were found in the gut of the first emu shot in Australia (1788) [which surprised me!]; Christmas Bush (Ceratopetalum gummiferum Smith), another Australian plant, which should not be confused with Mexican Christmasbush (Chromolaena odorata (L.) R.M. King & H. Rob.), or triffidweed; Christmas Candle (Senna alata (L.) Roxb.), perhaps better known as ringwormbush or, and far more exotic, seven-golden-candlesticks; Christmas Fern (Polystichum acrostichoides (Michx.) Schott), a showy North American species which is often given as a present at this time of year; Christmas Flower (Euphorbia pulcherrima Willd. ex Klotzch), which is far better known in this country as the poinsettia; Christmas Orchid (Cattleya trianae Linden & Rchb. f.), one of many noted for their floriferousness [over 600 flowers were recorded in a season from a single Cattleya bowringiana plant] - I gave Jan one last Christmas and it is still flowering; and Christmas Palm (Veitchia merrillii (Becc.) H.E. Moore), which I remember well from my days in Vanuatu where a frond is given on Christmas Day.

I am sure that there are many more, but I can dally little longer. However, to help this young lady in her quest, I am offering a £100 Essentially Oils Gift Voucher to the person who comes up with the longest list of Christmas prefix plants, but I must have also the botanical names and bibliographic references [you didn’t think that it would be that easy!].  The offer does not close until the 31st of December and so you have the whole of the festive period to work on it!
A very different lavender.
One of the joys of being an essential oil researcher is that occasionally one stumbles across something a little bit different. I know that it drives my old friend Martin Watt absolutely wild, and justifiably so, because they have rarely been toxicity tested.  Nevertheless I go on searching whilst Martin graciously sorts the safe from the sensitizers. However, on this occasion, I think that I might have a bit of a challenge for him.

Recently, when visiting another researcher, I enquired if she had anything a little out of the ordinary.  How about Seville Lavender? Seville lavender?! We used to live in Jerez, just down the autoroute (which wasn’t open then) from Seville, but I had never heard of it.  Did she mean Lavandula angustifolia Mill. from Seville, which we stock already? I caught a whiff from the proffered bottle.

The aroma was quite particular - after the initial cineole/minty note, honey and fruity notes (a bit like plums and pears) emerged.  It really was quite pleasant, but not at all like lavender. The bottom note was very amber, warm, animal, tobacco-like, and a little reminiscent of labdanum and frankincense.  Most unusual. A swift glimpse at the label revealed that the yellow-amber oil had been steam distilled from Lavandula luisieri. None the wiser, I could not wait to get back to my reference books.

I pulled out the recent definitive work on the subject: Lavender, the genus Lavandula, one of the excellent Medicinal and Aromatic Plants - Industrial Profiles series published by Taylor & Francis (ISBN 0-415-28486-4). Flicking quickly through the index I was dismayed to find only two references, and they were pretty scant with their information. I would have to do some donkey work myself.

Looking closely at luisieri.
Lavandula luisieri (Rozeira) Riv.-Mart. is part of the distinct taxonomical group Stoechas Ging., of the genus Lavandula L.

Strictly, Stoechas contains just two species - Lavandula stoechas L. and Lavandula viridis L’Her. - but this hides the great diversity of taxa and variation that exists within this group of small woody shrubs as a multitude of infraspecific taxa are recognised under L. stoechas. It is these taxa whose identity and true relationship remain both problematic and elusive.

The subspecies of L. stoechas most frequently listed are: pedunculata Miller (Samp. ex Rozeira); sampaiana (Rozeira) Riv.-Mart.; lusitanica (Chaytor) Rozeira; luisieri (Rozeira) Riv.-Mart.; atlantica Braun-Blanq.; maderensis (Benth.) Rozeira; and cariensis (Boiss.) Rozeira.

L. stoechas and subspecies, which have coloured sterile bracts and unsticky leaves, can be distinguished from L. viridis which has green sterile bracts and very glandular, viscid leaves.

Lavandula luisieri is endemic to south-west Spain, central and southern Portugal and, thus, can justifiably be termed trivially Spanish or Portuguese lavender - I have written quite extensively about this in the past but, once again, it emphasises the need for binomials when dealing in Europe.  Anyhow, it is a very erect plant, 50 to 75cm in height, with a large and robust flower spike with many small, dark violet flowers. The basal fertile bracts are almost circular, and the upper fertile bracts diamond shaped.

The essential oil of L. luisieri was only studied for the first time quite recently, as part of a larger research study into the taxonomic chemistry of lavandula species growing on the Iberian Peninsula [Garcia-Vallejo, M.C., Garcia-Vallejo, I. and Velasco-Negueruela, A. (1989) Essential oils of the genus Lavandula L. in Spain. Proc. ICEOFF, New Delhi, 1989, vol. 4, pp. 15-26].  The study revealed two chemotypes of L. luisieri - the main difference between the two being the quantity of 1,8-cineole and an “Unknown ester A”. Apart from ester A, four other esters were present, together with an unknown ketone and an “alcohol A”.

A few years later, for the first time in the plant kingdom, a new group of necrodane derivatives - a-necrodol, a-necrodyl acetate - were detected in L. luisieri [Garcia-Vallejo, I., Garcia-Vallejo, M.C., Sanz, J., Bernabe, M., and Velasco-Negueruela, A. Necrodane derivatives in Lavandula luisieri, new compounds to the plant kingdom. Phytochemistry, 36, 43-45. (1994)], which makes it very different to others in its taxonomic group.

Interestingly, these compounds had been discovered first in 1982 in the defensive secretion of Necrodes surinamensis, a common species of carrion beetle living in Central and North America [Eisner, T., Deyrup, M., Jacobs, R., and Meinwald, J. (1986). Necrodols: anti-insect terpenes from defensive secretion of carrion beetle (Necrodes surinamensis). J. Chem. Ecol., 12, 1407-1415].

The composition of this oil is quite exceptional, having in effect a series of terpenes of rare pentacyclic structure never seen before in the plant kingdom. The major constituents are 1,8-cineole (15-20%), a-necrodyl acetate (20%), a-necrodol (5-10%) and lavandulyl acetate (3-6%).  

Twenty years ago, it was suggested that there are structural relationships between some secondary metabolites of plants and those of insects [Nahrstedt, A. Planta Med., 1982, 44, 2.] The basic metabolic pathways constitute the origins of secondary metabolism, giving rise to a vast array of compounds; some of these are responsible for the characteristic odours, pungencies and colours of plants, others give a plant its culinary, medicinal or poisonous virtues.  More recently, attention has been directed to the possible ecological implications of these compounds not only in relation to plant-plant interaction but also concerning the interrelationship of plants and the animal kingdom.

Nonetheless it is to the secondary plant products that the majority of plant drugs owe their therapeutic activity and so it is in these that pharmacognosists are most interested. 

Aromatherapy use?  To be assessed by those who would like to try it! Now where’s Jacqui Le Sueur’s number? 

Angelica root or seed, which is best?
What is the difference between Angelica root and seed (Angelica archangelica L.), you sell them both! e-mailed Victoria Plum.  What is the difference between a ‘typical’ seed and root GC?

Fortunately, I could put my hands immediately on a couple of GC/MS analyses that we had done for a well-known Norfolk grower when he first distilled seed and root a couple of years ago. Thus, there were no variables of batch, specific botanical, identification, plant type, date of production, or origin. We also analysed a sample of the root hydrolat at the same time.

The major difference was the absence of delta-3-carene in the seed oil, and the much higher b-phellandrene content. However the monocyclic terpenes isomerize, polymerize and oxidize quite readily, especially when distilled at atmospheric pressure.  Thus, it remains questionable whether any of these terpenes have ever been prepared in absolutely pure form.  Nevertheless I still think that the presence of delta-3-carene is the distinguishing feature between the two, and other analysts tend to confirm this.

Julia Lawless [The Encyclopaedia of Essential Oils] says the root is phototoxic and the seed not [probably due to higher levels of bergapten, according to Lawless] but Sylla Sheppard Hanger [The Aromatherapy Practitioner Reference Manual] cautions photosensitivity for the seed as well, but Robert [Tisserand] says this is not the case, commented Victoria.

Although years ago researchers identified several lactones in the root oil, they only found them in an extract of the seed and, therefore, I think that Tisserand is correct, but it should be borne in mind that their content in the volatile oil depends upon the length of distillation and the steam pressure applied since coumarin derivatives possess relatively high boiling points and are not readily volatized by steam.  In fact, today, root and seed oils obtained by steam distillation are claimed to be devoid of furanocoumarins, although extracts (e.g., absolute, fluid extract) may contain them.

Everything I’ve ever read [in the aromatherapy literature I presume] seems to suggest that the seed [essential oil] is ‘inferior’ to the root, continued Victoria.

My herbal books suggest seed is ‘inferior’ in saying roots and leaves are used medicinally, but stems and seeds are only for culinary use. Have we, as aromatherapists, inherited a probably well founded herbal reasoning for use of root, and translated it into an essential oil “root is best” ideology - perhaps without foundation, as some of the desirable compounds in the root may not necessarily be volatile? Discuss!

As far as “root being best”is concerned I’m not too sure, because I can find no human studies documented for A. archangelica.  Many related species, however, are traditionally used in Chinese medicine, and A. sinensis (Oliv.) Diels [variously known in Chinese as dang quai, dang qui, dong gui and dong quai] has even been reported to be effective in improving abnormal protein metabolism in patients with chronic hepatitis or hepatic cirrhosis [Chang, H.M. et al. Advances in Chinese medicinal materials research. Philadelphia: World Scientific, 1985], but I doubt that this involves any essential oils.   

Also, although the traditional use of Chinese species such as A. sinensis and A. acutiloba (Siebold & Zucc.) Kitag. [dong dang gui in Chinese and tang-kuei in Japanese], is well established in oriental medicine [which “is very much about experience, passed from teacher to disciple, father to son or grandfather to grandchild, it’s not something that you can read in a book or that you can be tested on”, says Gao Yuchi, a doctor of traditional medicine at a hospital in Beijing], there is limited documented pharmacological information available about A. archangelica to justify even its herbal use.
 
Still we do know that both angelica herb and the root oil have been reported to cause photodermatitis and phototoxicity, respectively, following external contact [Opdyke, D.L.J. Food Cosmet. Toxicol., 13(Suppl.), 713 (1975)], and that the International Fragrance Association recommends that the root oil be limited to 0.78% maximum in products applied to the skin which is then exposed to sunshine. 

Furthermore, because coumarin constituents may interfere with anticoagulent therapy, we know that the root should be treated with caution and, because the root has acquired some reputation as an emmenagogue and abortifacient, it should be avoided during pregnancy and lactation.  However, in this latter regard, there is no proof that it is particularly effective, although severe poisoning has resulted from large doses of the root administered in an attempt to induce abortions.  Also, as pointed out in Tisserand’s Essential Oil Safety, there is a risk of skin sensitisation from old or poorly stored batches of delta-3-carene-rich oils (such as angelica root oil).            

All of which makes me wonder if root is really best. Meanwhile I think that much remains in the hydrolat, but that’s for discussion on another occasion.

Necrobiosis lipoidica - can anyone help?
This unpleasant skin disease is characterized by the formation of reddish yellow plaques, mostly on the legs, and occurs most often in older women, especially those with diabetes.

It was originally termed Necrobiosis lipoidica diabeticorum because it was first described in patients with established diabetes.  However the condition also occurs in nondiabetic patients [Muller, S.A., Winkelmann, R.K. Necrobiosis lipoidica diabeticorum: a clinical and pathological investigation of 171 cases. Arch. Dermatol. (1966): 93(3), pp. 272-81].

The condition, which is relatively asymptomatic, is three times more common in women than in men. Spontaneous remission occurs in 13-19% of patients 1 to 34 years after onset, but residual scarring and atrophy remain. Ulceration occurs in 35% of patients and often is precipitated by trauma [Lowitt, M.H., Dover, J.S. J. Am.Acad. Dermatol. (1991): 25(5 Pt.1), pp. 735-48].

My own correspondent is nondiabetic and, although a member of the Necrobiosis Society, she would very much like to hear from anyone, particularly a nondiabetic, who is suffering or has suffered from the same affliction.

New aromatherapy?
In the United States, the aromatherapy market is estimated to be worth $400 million (2002). with a doubling anticipated in 2003 (Datamonitor, 2000). However the term aromatherapy is tossed about without much real understanding of what it actually means, according to an excellent article -The Benefits of Fragrance Materials - in the latest edition of Perfumer & Flavorist (November/December 2003, vol. 28, no. 6).  The authors provide a short explanation, classifying aromatherapy into three evolutionary stages.

Traditional aromatherapy: natural fragrances (essential oils) improve health (body). Aroma-Chology: natural and synthetic fragrances improve mood (mind).
New aromatherapy: natural and synthetic fragrances improve mood and health.   

There follows a fair description of Traditional aromatherapy, such as you might find in the preface to any aromatherapy book, and the term Aroma-Chology is credited correctly to The Sense of Smell Institute (formerly the Olfactory Research Fund), an organisation which sought to distinguish the important role that fragrance, including essential oils, plays in providing temporary, beneficial psychological mood benefits from the more medicinal and controversial claims of traditional aromatherapy, and New aromatherapy......??

Apparently this is an exciting new brand of aromatherapy emerging from recent and ongoing scientific and medical research. This new area of research seeks to discover and document the strong relationship between a healthy mind and a healthy body; providing proof for the long-abandoned belief in mind-body connections practised by the Greeks and Romans.  A new branch of medicine, psychoneuroimmunology and a new branch of psychology, positive psychology, have arisen from this line of research. In years to come, this line of research will likely feed new consumer interest in aromatherapy products.  In addition, these products may be able to make stronger health claims.

Interestingly, the authors work for one of the largest flavour and fragrance companies in the world. Are the big battalions ahead of the game?

If so, now might not be a bad time to re-read Understanding the Placebo Effect in Complementary Medicine, because I recollect that consultant neuropsychiatrist Professor Peter Fenwick, in the final chapter of this stimulating book, comments.....It takes only a moment’s self-observation to recognize that what goes on in the mind must affect the body.Well worth reading.  


By the way, is this the same Peter Fenwick who is assisting the new Aromatherapy Consortium?

Grass-roots comment.
One of the great advantages of being a monthly is that I can get the news out before it is history.  I know that this annoys some, but news is news and this is a newsletter and not a historical document, although sometimes it might appear to be!

Correction to the Aromatherapy Consortium Press Release.

The Royal College of Nursing and their representative, Angela Avis, have withdrawn from the regulatory process.  It is hoped that the collaborative relationship can be resumed in the near future.

Meanwhile, following my piece last month, Aromatherapy Consortium revealed, many have expressed views which they would like to share with others....

“Judging from the news in the November Newsletter, confusion continues to reign....or that is the way it seems to me (‘me’ being a professional aromatherapist in full time practice).”

“Despite the fact that two groups of therapists (chiropractors & osteopaths) have already completed the regulation process and three more (herbalists, acupuncturists & homoeopaths) are at various stages of that process, I would have not thought it too difficult for the aromatherapy profession to follow their lead.  We, surely, can learn from their mistakes and benefit from their successes. This does not seem to be the case, however.” 

“From where I sit I see a profession in disarray; seemingly unable to unite for the good of the whole. And without total unity I cannot see a way forward. And this saddens me enormously.  I am sure there is not an aromatherapist in the country who does not want to see some kind of regulation as it would potentially be of benefit to us all.”

“Following the demise of the AOC and the ARWG we now see the advent of the Aromatherapy Consortium (AC) - ‘the emerging aromatherapy regulatory body in the UK’.  I have a couple of questions....Why does a working group (as the AC would more properly seem to be at this stage) need to be a limited company?  Only an organisation conducting business would need to be limited in this way.  Becoming limited will add to running costs and this in turn will be passed onto the eventual members. Secondly, how can the AC already have a register of members when the regulatory process has not yet concluded and the parameters for inclusion on a regulated register been defined?”

“Whatever the future holds for aromatherapists like myself, I sincerely hope that our regulatory process is not defined by ego, and by financial gain for the eventual governing body which, we have to recognise, will be a monopoly as in the case of osteopaths. I also hope that along the way the working group will ask for opinions from the grass-roots of the industry and not just from our representative bodies as we are the ones who will be affected on a daily basis by regulation and who may, if costs escalate, be forced out of practice by the very regulation intended to help us.”

It is not my role to comment, but I would suggest that communication with the grass-roots does seem to be a little lacking.  On the other hand Charles Baudelaire (1821-67), a dark and controversial poet, a seeker of God without religious beliefs, searching in every manifestation of life for its true significance, be it in the leaves of trees or a prostitute’s frown, in his  private papers translated by Christopher Isherwood, commented....Belief in progress is a doctrine of idlers. It is the individual relying upon his neighbours to do his work.

Christmas Closing.
We shall be closed from noon on Wednesday, 24th December, until Monday, 29th December.

Last day for ordering for pre-Christmas delivery is Friday, 19th December.

Finally......
On behalf of Jan, Justin, Duncan, Jade, Karla, David, Genine, Robin, Ella, Rachel and Heidi, may I wish you a very Merry Christmas and a very Happy, Healthy and Prosperous New Year.     


charles@essentiallyoils.com
 

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