WHOLESALE AROMATHERAPY OILS
- Glossary of Complementary and Alternative Medicine Terms
- Aromatherapy Essential Oils-Essential for Mind and Body
- Essential Oils - Aromatherapy and Their Effect on Your Health
- Ways of Uses of Essential Oils
- Therapeutic Essential Oils
- Carrier or Base Oil Study
- Common Ailments with Essential Oils
- Most Common Aromatherapy Oils
- Health And Aromatherapy Essential Oils
- Occurence of Aromatherapy Oils
Occurence of Aromatherapy Oils
Essential oils may be found in different parts of the plant: in the petals (rose), leaves (eucalyptus), roots of grass (vetiver), bark (cinnamon), heartwood (sandalwood), citrus rind (lemon), seeds (caraway), rhizomes (valerian), bulbs (garlic), the aerial or top parts of the plant (marjoram) or resin (frankincense), and sometimes in more than one part of the plant. Lavender, for instance, yields oil from both the flowers and the leaves, while the orange tree produces three different smelling essences with varying medicinal properties; the heady bitter-sweet neroli (flowers), the similar though less refined scent of petit grain (leaves) and the cheery orange (rind of the fruit).
Although sometimes denigrated as "waste products' of plant metabolism, studies have shown that plants utilize essential oils for such purposes as attracting pollinating insects, repelling predators and protecting themselves from disease -quite a significant survival mechanism. Yet essential oils are not vital to the life of plants as a whole, as the word 'essential' may suggest; Indeed, while it is true that most plants have an odor to a sensitive nose, not all plants produce volatile oils.
Essential oils accumulate in specialised plant tissues, harbouring oil glands. The more oil glands present in the plant, the cheaper the oil, and vice versa. For instance, 100 kilos of lavender yields almost 3 litres of essential oil, whereas 100 kilos of rose petals can yield only a half a litre. Essential oils are highly concentrated substances and therefore rarely used neat, though certain essences, such as lavender and tea tree, are sometimes used undiluted as an antiseptic. For aromatherapy massage, however, they are diluted in a 'carrier' oil such as sweet almond or olive. As well as being soluble in ordinary vegetable oil, essential oils will dissolve in alcohol, egg yolk and waxes (melted beeswax or jojoba for example). However, they are only partially soluble in water -and a little more soluble in vinegar.
Colour and consistency
Even though they are technically classified as oils, plant essences are quite different from 'fixed' or fatty oils such as sunflower seed, corn or sweet almond. They are highly volatile, which means they evaporate when left in the open air, and they do not leave a permanent mark on paper. While many essences are virtually colourless (peppermint), yellowish (lavender), greenish (bergamot), amber (patchouli) or dark brown (vetiver), a few are endowed with an idiosyncratic hue. Tagetes, for example, is dark orange or yellow, whereas German chamomile is a splendid inky-blue. Many essences have the consistency of water or alcohol -lavender, peppermint and rosemary, for example.. Others, such as myrrh and vetiver, are viscous, or thick and sticky, whereas rose otto is semisolid at room temperature, but becomes liquid with the slightest warmth.
