Lavender

Lavandula angustifolia

HRB-0169Entry “LAVENDER” in the 1850 textIn Culpeper’s 1652 first edition

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Old claims, quoted verbatim: not medical advice. A warning sits above the claims and never hides them; no warning does not mean safe, only that no source here has flagged the plant.

Substance of concernEFSA: 1,8-cineole, Camphor, alpha-thujone and 1 moreEFSA’s list of substances, not a danger rating. Checked 26 October 2026.

Historical correspondence. Ruled by Mercury, by Culpeper. A traditional astrological assignment, kept apart from the modern evidence; it is not a finding.

Culpeper’s claims about it: 13, under 13 headings, 1 where he says it harms or causes

  1. ApoplexyCLM-0001181850 index
    Lavender is of a special good use for all the griefs and pains of the head and brain that proceed of a cold cause, as the apoplexy, falling-sickness, the dropsy, or sluggish malady, cramps, convulsions, palsies, and often faintings.
    QUO-000098Papers and the EMA’s verdict, in the Concordance
  2. but it is not safe to use it where the body is replete with blood and humours, because of the hot and subtile spirits wherewith it is possessed.
    QUO-000149Papers and the EMA’s verdict, in the Concordance
  3. Lavender is of a special good use for all the griefs and pains of the head and brain that proceed of a cold cause, as the apoplexy, falling-sickness, the dropsy, or sluggish malady, cramps, convulsions, palsies, and often faintings.
    QUO-000098Papers and the EMA’s verdict, in the Concordance
  4. CholicCLM-000471
    The flowers of Lavender steeped in wine, helps them to make water that are stopped, or are troubled with the wind or cholic, if the place be bathed therewith.
    QUO-000399Papers and the EMA’s verdict, in the Concordance
  5. ConvulsionsCLM-000535
    Lavender is of a special good use for all the griefs and pains of the head and brain that proceed of a cold cause, as the apoplexy, falling-sickness, the dropsy, or sluggish malady, cramps, convulsions, palsies, and often faintings.
    QUO-000098Papers and the EMA’s verdict, in the Concordance
  6. CrampCLM-000631
    Lavender is of a special good use for all the griefs and pains of the head and brain that proceed of a cold cause, as the apoplexy, falling-sickness, the dropsy, or sluggish malady, cramps, convulsions, palsies, and often faintings.
    QUO-000098Papers and the EMA’s verdict, in the Concordance
  7. DropsyCLM-000684
    Lavender is of a special good use for all the griefs and pains of the head and brain that proceed of a cold cause, as the apoplexy, falling-sickness, the dropsy, or sluggish malady, cramps, convulsions, palsies, and often faintings.
    QUO-000098Papers and the EMA’s verdict, in the Concordance
  8. FaintingsCLM-000706
    Lavender is of a special good use for all the griefs and pains of the head and brain that proceed of a cold cause, as the apoplexy, falling-sickness, the dropsy, or sluggish malady, cramps, convulsions, palsies, and often faintings.
    QUO-000098Papers and the EMA’s verdict, in the Concordance
  9. Lavender is of a special good use for all the griefs and pains of the head and brain that proceed of a cold cause, as the apoplexy, falling-sickness, the dropsy, or sluggish malady, cramps, convulsions, palsies, and often faintings.
    QUO-000098Papers and the EMA’s verdict, in the Concordance
  10. LiverCLM-001197
    It strengthens the stomach, and frees the liver and spleen from obstructions, provokes women’s courses, and expels the dead child and after-birth.
    QUO-000846Papers and the EMA’s verdict, in the Concordance
  11. PalsiesCLM-0013481850 index
    Lavender is of a special good use for all the griefs and pains of the head and brain that proceed of a cold cause, as the apoplexy, falling-sickness, the dropsy, or sluggish malady, cramps, convulsions, palsies, and often faintings.
    QUO-000098Papers and the EMA’s verdict, in the Concordance
  12. StomachCLM-001610
    It strengthens the stomach, and frees the liver and spleen from obstructions, provokes women’s courses, and expels the dead child and after-birth.
    QUO-000846Papers and the EMA’s verdict, in the Concordance
  13. Tooth-acheCLM-001854
    to gargle the mouth with the decoction thereof is good against the tooth-ache.
    QUO-001180Papers and the EMA’s verdict, in the Concordance

Source

Nicholas Culpeper, The Complete Herbal, a new edition (London: Thomas Kelly, 1850). Project Gutenberg eBook #49513. SRC-CUL-1850

Quotations are verbatim from the 1850 text, line breaks joined. Modern research and the European regulator’s verdict on each claim are on the Concordance page, kept apart from this historical record.