The scent of lavender often evokes a sunny morning in the lavender fields of Provence, France where it is cultivated for making perfumes, cosmetics, and aromatherapy products. In the southwestern desert of the U.S., a type of lavender can also be found that has a scent similar to the fragrant lavender found in France. Native Americans were attracted to this plant for its scent and for its unique medicinal purposes.
About Desert Lavender
Hyptis emoryi or desert lavender is a frost-sensitive perennial shrub in the mint family that can grow up to eight feet tall and three feet wide. It typically grows on rocky slopes, in canyons, and in dry washes. This shrub can be found in Arizona, Nevada, California, northwest New Mexico, and in Sonora and Baja California. It has grey foliage and blue-lavender flowers. This shrub has oval whitish grey-green leaves with serrated margins and white hairy stems. Small violet flowers in short clusters that are bilaterally symmetrical blossom at the tips of the branches beginning in winter. They can bloom several times through spring. The flower is distinguished by four fertile stamens located on the pouched lower lip of the blossom.
Medicinal & Culinary Uses
The Cahuilla make an infusion of blossoms and leaves and take it for hemorrhages. It is also used to treat female inflammatory conditions, reproductive complaints, and to treat heavy menstruation and bleeding hemorrhoids. A decoction was made and used as a wound wash. Desert Lavender has long been prized by Native American communities living in this plant range for its edible seeds, as a flavoring, and as a component of a herbal tea. It is well respected and in regular use among the Comcaac of coastal Sonora near Tiburon Island. It is used as a smudge to clear the air of impurities, to prevent sickness from befalling someone, and to call forth all the beauty and healing that one seeks.
Did You Know...
Desert Lavender is one of the honey bees' favorite plants in the desert.
Desert Lavender attracts hummingbirds and butterflies.
Desert Lavender tea is said not only to taste good but also to ease nausea, anxiety, and stomach flu.
Today it is used for smudging, skin inflammation, rashes, and bee stings.
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