As the wind and rain rattle the windows, I am grappling with revised botanical nomenclature for our forthcoming, updated 2007 Price List, as others prepare for another Day with Lotte Rose.  These days have been a great success and I am encouraged to arrange more during this year, with greater emphasis on hot mix product making.  Places for a weekend with Jennie Harding and Johnnie Kennett, Revitalising your Practice, are also being snapped up fast and so, if you wish to freshen up your practice, you had better be quick.

Weekend Course Dates

Weekend, 20-21 January, 2007.
Weekend, 10-11 February, 2007.
Weekend, 17-18 March, 2007.

Would a rose smell so sweet by any other name?
With new DNA research, many plant names are being reassessed.  Roses, traditionally linked with the saxifrages, are now known to be more closely related to nettles. Papayas, thought to be related to passion flowers, actually have more affinity with cabbages.  And, most strange of all, the sacred lotus turns out to be unrelated to water lilies, and kin to plane trees instead. 

Mark Chase, keeper of the Jodrell Laboratory at Kew, explains: “The names have to change to reflect true relationships, otherwise they don’t mean anything - you might as well assign each plant an arbitrary number.” What would the great Carl Linnaeus (1707-1778) make of that?!

This year marks the 300th anniversary of the birth of Linnaeus, and all at The Linnean Society are preparing to roll out a comprehensive programme of exciting events, scientific meetings, and exhibitions. Founded in 1788 by the English natural historian Sir James Smith, to take care of Linnaeus’s library, manuscripts, and natural history collections, The Linnean Society of London is one of the world’s oldest extant organisations devoted exclusively to biology. 

Some will recollect that the somewhat arrogant, vain and egotistical Swedish-born Linnaeus developed the system of binomial nomenclature, which today provides the fundamental framework for knowledge of the biota of the Earth.      

Before Linnaeus came along, many biologists gave the species they described long, unwieldy Latin names, which could be altered at will.  Linnaeus, however, designated one Latin name to indicate the genus, and one as a “shorthand” for the species - the binomial. Thus, instead of Rosa sylvestris inodora seu canina or Rosa sylvestris alba cum rubore, folio glabro, the wild briar rose became simply Rosa canina - Dog-rose.  This binomial (“two names”) system rapidly became the standard for naming species. 

R. canina is an abundant and widespread species, and can be most variable. It can be a low-growing scrambler or climb 30 feet up a woodland tree to flower in the crown, like a rain-forest vine.  As the old, lengthy Latin name describes, the sweet-scented blooms vary in colour from white to deep pink, with smooth leaves. 

Bearing in mind my predilection for automotive matters, it is interesting to note that the best known cultivated variety ‘Abbotswood’, a chance hybrid with an unknown garden variety, which has scented, double, pink flowers, first appeared in the garden of Harry Ferguson, of tractor and four-wheel-drive fame.  It is the breeding line of the ‘Alba’ group.

For those who think Latin a dead language, an old riddle, ‘The Five Brethren of the Rose’, gives an effective way of identifying roses of the canina group. It has been passed on orally since medieval times.

On a summer’s day, in sultry weather,
Five brethren were born together,
Two had beards and two had none
And the other had but half a one.

The ‘brethren’ are the five sepals of the dog-rose, two of which are whiskered on both sides, two quite smooth and the fifth whiskered on one side only [Mabey, R., Flora Britannica, 191].

 Loathsome harlotry!
The son of a Lutheran pastor, Linnaeus had deep religious beliefs which led him to natural theology, a school of thought going back to Biblical times but especially flourishing around 1700: since God created the world, it is possible to understand God’s wisdom by studying His creation.  The study of nature would reveal the Divine Order of God’s creation, and it was the naturalist’s task to construct a natural classification that would reveal this Order in the universe.

However, Linnaeus’s plant taxonomy was based solely on the number and arrangement of the reproductive sexual organs; a plant’s class was determined by its stamens (male organs), and its order by its pistils (female organs). This resulted in many groupings that seemed unnatural.

For example, his Class Monoecia, Order Monadelphia, included plants with separate male and female “flowers”on the same plant (Monoecia) and with multiple male organs joined onto one common base (Monadelphia).  This Order included conifers such as pines, firs, and cypresses (the distinction between true flowers and conifer cones was not clear), but also included a few true flowering plants, such as the castor bean.  “Plants” without obvious sex organs were placed in the Class Cryptogamia, or “plants with a hidden marriage”, which lumped together the algae, lichens, fungi, mosses, and ferns. This produced an artificial classification, not a natural one, which Linnaeus freely admitted, but like many naturalists of the time, in particular Erasmus Darwin, Linnaeus attached great significance to plant sexual reproduction, which had only recently been rediscovered. 

The sexual basis of Linnaeus’s plant classification was controversial in its day.  Although easy to learn and use, it clearly did not give good results in many cases. Some critics also attacked it for its sexually explicit nature. One opponent, botanist Johann Siegesbeck, called it “loathsome harlotry”.  Unabashed, Linnaeus had his revenge, naming a small, useless weed Siegesbeckia.

As science writer Gail Vines observes in the latest edition of Kew Magazine, Linnaeus may not have been much of a team player, but his binomial system endures because it works. It tells us something about who is related to whom, but as genetic data stimulate revisions to the genealogy of flowering plants, names inevitably will have to be altered.  Hopefully Linnaeus would understand.  

Gourmand goats cause concern.
When Justin, whilst on his travels through Morocco, sent me pictures of goats clambering midst the branches of Argan (Argania spinosa L.) trees to gorge upon the fruit I thought it most amusing, but now I am not so sure.

Argan trees have been tempting goats for centuries. In fact this delectation has been positively encouraged because, after eating the fruit whole, goats spit up or excrete its pits. Undigested pits can be split to extract bitter internal kernels, which farmers grind and press to produce oil for cooking or cosmetics.

Argan trees are particularly hardy.  They can survive heat, drought, and poor soil, making them suitably adapted for harsh African environments.  The trees grow up to 10 metres high and typically live up to 200 years. But despite the adaptability of Argan trees, current over-grazing by goats and commercial over-use of its wood has reduced the number of surviving trees to 50% of what it was 50 years ago, making its future uncertain. Although inhabitants of Southwest Morocco often refer to the Argan as “The Tree of Life”, they don’t look after it very well. Increasing numbers of large domesticated grazing herds continue to roam the area, resulting in overgrazing of the fragile ecosystem. Unsustainable collections of firewood, timber and fruit further exacerbate the problem. What’s more, the tree has never been germinated from seed or transplanted on a wide scale.  Also it is likely that global warming and the disappearance of spiny “nurse” plants such as Ziziphus species, which protected Argan tree seedlings, may be to blame.

Conserving Argan.
Although Argan oil is one of the rarest and most expensive fixed oils in the world it is the current buzz ingredient in the skincare world, thanks to its incredible moisturising and cell-rejuvenating properties.  Estee Lauder is rumoured to have recently bought up significant Argan oil production in Morocco. Interestingly I wrote first of Argan in July 1999, but few showed much interest then.

To conserve the Argan tree, groups like UNESCO, Prince Albert II of Monaco, and the Amal Cooperative, Morocco’s first oil cooperative, are discouraging the cutting down of trees for firewood and encouraging more careful goat grazing.  UNESCO has declared a 10,000 square mile area between the Atlantic and the Atlas Mountains as a “biosphere reserve”.  To halt the overgrazing, Cooperative Amal led a campaign to ban grazing in the trees between May and August, when the fruit ripens and eventually falls to the ground.  Thus far this seems to have worked, leaving enough fruit on the ground to fuel the increasing number of oil cooperatives while still protecting the trees.

Meanwhile the market for Argan is being whipped up.  Celebrity chefs and society matrons are praising the culinary qualities of the oil and its anti-ageing effect on the skin. However, to make Argan oil, each nut has to be cracked open to remove the kernels, so making one litre of oil can take up to 20 hours of work. No wonder the oil is rather expensive! Still, as an early advocate of this Berber gold, I can’t jump ship now and so have just ordered fresh stocks of both culinary and cosmetic grade Argan oils. Enjoy!

Reviewing Hyssop.
Read most books on aromatherapy and you will be warned that the essential oil of Hyssop (Hyssopus officinalis L.) should only be used with great caution and in many circumstances it should not be used at all.

Native to the Medierranean region, this member of the Lamiaceae grows to two or three feet in height, with flowers in whorls that may be blue, mauve, white or pink. The flowering tops are used for the distillation of the oil, which is a pale yellow or faintly greenish yellow to almost colourless oil of a powerful, somewhat sharp, but sweet-camphoraceous odour, and with a warm-aromatic, spicy undertone, not unlike Thyme or Basil.  It is assumed generally that the active constituents of the oil include a high proportion of pinocamphone (20%) and iso-pinocamphone (50%) with b-pinene and traces of geraniol, borneol, phellandrene and thujone. Pinocamphone and its isomer are largely responsible for the neurotoxicity of hyssop oil. Hyssop oil can induce epileptic seizures, and is subject to legal restrictions in some parts of the world.

In the past, the whole herb was so highly esteemed it was regarded as a virtual cure-all. It is, however, currently an undervalued medicinal herb. Hyssop is potentially useful as it is both calming and tonic. It is particularly effective when used to treat bronchitis and respiratory infections, especially where there is excessive mucus production, because it appears to assist the production of a more liquid mucus, and at the same time gently stimulates expectoration. This combined action clears thick and congested phlegm.  However it can irritate the mucous membranes, so it is best administered after an infection has peaked.

Doubtless taking a lead from herbal medicine, it is suggested for similar purposes within aromatherapy.  Another use is for bruises: it can be applied in a cold compress as soon as possible after the bruising has occurred.  Hot compresses, on the other hand, are helpful for rheumatism.  All the same it remains regarded as a hazardous oil and requests for it are few and far between. This, however, is perhaps a little unjustified.

Several years ago, researchers reported the analysis of an essential oil from H. officinalis L. grown in Spain [J. Essent. Oil Res., 7, 567-568 (1995)].  I believe that this was probably the first time the chemical composition of an oil obtained from Spanish hyssop had been looked at. 

The oil from the Spanish hyssop was characterized by a high content of 1,8-cineole and b-pinene whereas pinocamphone and iso-pinocamphone were present in very low amounts.

According to the International Standard of the time the amount of pinocamphone and its isomer should have been 5.5-17.5% and 34.5-50% respectively, therefore the oil of Spanish hyssop did not meet the ISO standards. However, since the content of convulsive terpenic ketones was very low, the Spanish oil was considered better suited for the pharmaceutical industry and aromatherapy.  I agreed, and we have stocked it ever since!

Surveying Seaweed.
Approximately 70% of the Earth’s surface is covered with water.  The sea holds an endless source of life.  Approximately 85% of water is seawater, which contains sodium chloride and trace minerals.

Seawater, mud baths, and various saltwater preparations have been used by people all over the world.  Many medical practitioners and folk healers recommend seawater for its various healing benefits.  It is used for its moisturizing and remineralizing benefits to the skin. Some people have been known to drink small quantities of it to add trace minerals to their diet. Sea salt is marketed for food, use in the bath, body rubs, etc.  Some therapists recommend bathing in seawater to help relieve the pain of arthritis and rheumatism.

It is said that life started in the seas, and many researchers feel that the sea holds the secret to life itself. Seawater holds an abundant supply of marine plants: algae, phytoplanktons, sea grasses, and seaweeds.

Seaweeds can be used in hair preparations for their protein, mineral, and vitamin content. They are also used as thickeners in jams, ice cream, sauces, and have even been used to put a head on beer. Seaweeds contain an abundant supply of trace minerals, as well as vitamins, and sterols, and are a source of new phytochemicals.  Seaweeds are also much higher in protein than land vegetables. They are good sources of iodine and vitamins A, B2, B12, and C.  Also, they are rich in compounds pertinent to the cosmetic industry, such as ursolic acid derivatives, fucose polymers, and polysaccharides.

Ursolic acid and its derivatives can form oil-resistant barriers on skin and hair, and fucose polymers are very hygroscopic and act as hydrating agents. Polysaccharides react with the proteins in the outer surface of the skin and hair: ion-ion interactions forming a protective moisturizing complex.

The thickening and gelling properties of these polysaccharides are valued by the world colloid industry, which uses 1.6 million tonnes of fresh seaweeds every year to produce 55,000 tonnes of alginates, carrageenans, and agar mostly destined for agricultural feed.

Until the advent of aromatherapy for animals I had rarely stocked Seaweed Absolute, as I considered it primarily a perfumery product. Although rarely offered under the name of Seaweed Absolute (Absolue d’Algue seems to ring a bell), there are several perfumery products which consist entirely or mainly of extracts of one or more species of seaweed.

Very little concise information seems to have been published with respect to the odorous constituents of various seaweeds.  And when perfumers generally are looking for a “marine” or “seashore” type of odour, they will turn to ambergris, nerol, geraniol, iodine complexes, ozone notes, etc.

Laminaria spp., chiefly L. digitata Lamouroux and L. hyperborea Fosli (both these species provide sterile surgery laminaria), are large perennial seaweeds of tough consistency, with a cylindrical or conical stipe (stalk) affixed to rocks by a ramified holdfast. The stipe widens at the top into a wide blade sometimes divided into palmated strips (L. digitata), or else it is lanceolate, whole and extremely undulate with a textured surface.

L. digitata is rich in calcium, potassium, iodine, mannitol, and glutamic acid, and contains vitamins E, C, B12, B6, B3, B, A, and minerals Zn, F, Cr, Co, I, Na, Fe, P, Mg, K, Ca. It is often referred to as Atlantic Kelp and has a higher iodine content than Pacific, or California Giant, Kelp (Macrocystis pyrifera Agarth.). 

Laminarias are abundant on the coast of the English Channel where they occupy the subtidal zone, between the low tide zone and a depth of about twenty metres. They are harvested on the coast of Brittany and constitute (in France) the bulk of the raw material consumed by the colloid industry. 

Macrocystis, on the other hand, are giant seaweeds of the Pacific Ocean with a blade divided into unilateral folioles, swollen at the base into a hollow vesicle that ensures surface flotation. They are particularly abundant off the California coast and in the southern seas.

Fucus spp., F. serratus L., F. vesiculosus L., are perennial seaweeds abundant on the coasts of temperate and cold seas of the northern hemisphere.  In the English Channel, they colonize the intertidal zone, which extends from the highest wave-splashed rocks down to levels uncovered only by the lowest tides. Affixed to rocks by adhesive discs, they form tufts of ribbon-like, membranous, dichotomous strips

Fucus vesiculosus L., Bladderwrack, has been used internally for obesity, rheumatism, and as a massage for cellulite.  It is often called the anti-fat herb and is also used in sun and after-sun products.  Fucus contains trace minerals, mainly iodine (0.02 to 0.1%).  It is a dioecious (having male and female organs on separate plants) species, spermatocytes or oogoniums are grouped in the terminal conceptacles, and on each side of the median “rib” there are thick-walled, isolated or paired pneumatocysts (the hollow part of the stipe, which acts as a float). The dried thallus of this species consists of blackish-brown to greenish-brown fragments sometimes covered with whitish efflorescences, with horn-like consistency, salty flavour, and a characteristic marine smell.

The seaweed used in animal essential oil therapy is assumed generally to be solvent extracted from bladderwrack but, in my experience, it is difficult to obtain an unequivocal answer from producers as to botanical source.  Obviously, the appearance and odour of seaweed products are strongly affected by the nature of the starting material, and many different seaweeds are used.

Nevertheless, seaweed absolute is considered a potent remedy, as it is absorbed rapidly into the blood stream, whereas dried seaweed preparations need to enter the gut first before being broken down into the blood. In veterinary treatments, it is an excellent remedy for run-down and ageing animals, immune disorders, toxic conditions, liver disorders, impaired movement, intestinal problems, wound healing, abcesses and puncture wounds.

Comparatively recently anti-HIV-active polysaccharides and polyphenols were isolated from F. vesiculosus.  This was done during studies to isolate antiviral compounds from marine organisms.  It was noted that the extract inhibited the activity of the HIV reverse transcriptase enzyme, as well as HIV-induced synctium formation. The sea may indeed hold the key to life!

Balsam Copaiba considered.
In plants, resins occur in different secretory structures, viz. resin cells (ginger), schizogenous or schizolysigenous ducts or cavities (copaiba), and glandular hairs (cannabis).  Resins are preformed in the plant as normal physiological products, but the yield is increased sometimes by injury.  Many products (benzoin) are not formed by the plant until it has been injured; that is, they are of pathological origin.

Resins are often associated with volatile oils in more or less homogeneous mixtures, the mixtures being known as oleoresins.  These are liquid or semi-liquid substances, depending on the amount of volatile oil present. Natural oleoresins are exemplified by copaiba.

Balsams, on the other hand, are resinous substances that contain varying amounts of aromatic balsamic acids, viz. benzoic or cinnamic acid or both, or esters of these acids.  They often contain small amounts of volatile oil as well.  However, the term balsam has been often wrongly applied to some oleoresins, Balsam of Copaiba being a fine case in point.

Balsam of Copaiba is in fact the oleoresin obtained from the trunk of various species of Copaifera L., tall, multi-branched trees, with a large trunk and a smooth bark.  The tree, native to northern South America, grows wild in the vast forests and jungles of Brazil, and to a lesser extent in Venezuela, Guyana, Surinam and Colombia.

The oleoresin originates probably by decomposition of the cell walls of the wood. The schizo- genous cavities within the wood and pith of the tree trunk, in which the copaiba accumulates, enlarge and join, forming reservoirs of surprisingly large capacity, which holds gallons of oleoresin.  On tapping of the tree, the oleoresin flows from the wound as a clear, colourless, thin liquid which, however, soon acquires a thicker consistency and a yellowish tinge.  
 Copaiba oil is obtained by direct vacuum distillation of the oleoresin, which can obtain up to 90% volatile oil. The oil is a colourless or pale yellow to yellow-green or bluish, very mobile liquid. The odour is similar to that of the original “balsam” (very faint, mild-woody, slightly spicy-peppery and modestly tenacious), but much milder, sweeter, almost creamy-balsamic, with a faint peppery-spicy undertone.

Compounds reported in the oleoresin include b-caryophyllene, which is a major component of the volatile oil, copaene, b-bisabolene, g-humulene, caryophyllene oxide, a-ylangene, and terpenic acids such as copalic, copaiferolic, hardwickic, among others.

Copaiba is believed to have diuretic, expectorant, disinfectant and stimulant properties.  The oil has been reported to exhibit antibacterial activity, and the oleoresin has showed marked antiinflammatory properties.

Available data indicate it to be relatively nontoxic, though large doses are reported to cause vomiting and diarrhoea as well as measles-like rash.

Oleoresin and oil are occasionally used in pharmaceutical preparations, such as diuretics, cough medicines, etc.  Both the “balsam” and oil are widely used in cosmetic preparations (soaps, bubble baths, detergents, creams, lotions, and perfumes), the former primarily as a fixative while the latter as a fragrance component.

Traditionally, it has been used for several centuries in Europe in the treatment of chronic cystitis and bronchitis; and in treating haemorrhoids, chronic diarrhoea, and others.  It is
used in Latin America for similar purposes.

In aromatherapy, it is suggested for intestinal infections, piles, bronchitis, chills, colds, coughs, cystitis, and stress-related conditions.

I have to admit that I had never considered stocking Copaiba, but recent requests have encouraged me to take a little oil of Copaifera officinalis (Jacq.) L. into stock.

Finally......
I am delighted to report that the midwives at the Horton Maternity Unit, down the road in Banbury, have won their third National Award in three years. Bravo!

The work they have been doing, increasing normality and improving the birth experience for women with both normal and complex pregnancies, was recognized by winning the “Turning Vision into Reality” category at the Royal College of Midwives awards 2006.

The unit has been researching the LK Massage Programme as a non-pharmacological pain relieving strategy for women and their birth partners to use predominately for labour pain.

Couples practise the massage techniques during the last few weeks of pregnancy, enhancing confidence and a sense of well-being.  The programme is continued during labour and after birth.

Funding is actively being sought to further this valuable research.

The certificate and plaque were presented to Anne Haines (Associate Midwifery Manager) and Linda Kimber (Research Midwife and Massage Therapist) by the Princess Royal.

A course involving this award-winning research-based programme has been developed for massage therapists and aromatherapists who are interested in working with pregnant women. It is taught by two practising midwives and will increase the practitioner’s knowledge and skills in this area and, ultimately, result in their becoming an LK Massage Progamme Tutor.

Courses are also available for midwives and antenatal teachers.

For further information: www.childbirthessentials.co.uk or telephone 01865 372686.



charles@essentiallyoils.com

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