There are thousands of essential oils. Each one has its own particularity and quality. If you’re feeling lost in this forest (no pun intended!) of choice, here’s a guide to help you through the wide selection of essential oils:
Table of Contents
RAVINTSARA
Ravintsara is a tree in the Lauraceae family. This tree grows in Madagascar, a country well known in the world of aromatherapy. Thanks to the country’s exceptional biodiversity, the Madagascans have a large number of medicinal plants that they use to make essential oils. Ravintsara is the most widely used in this country. Its name means “good leaf”. That’s certainly a sign!
Advantages of Ravintsara essential oil
- Antiviral
- Immunostimulant
- Broad-spectrum antibacterial
- Expectorant
We continue our guide with another highly reputed oil that appeals to a wide audience:
LAVENDER
Lavender, also known as Officinal Lavender, is a plant we all know and which is part of our collective imagination when we think of the South of France. It is one of the best-known and most widely used essential oils.
The violet-blue of its flowers makes it a wonderful colour to look at.
Advantages of Lavender essential oil
- Calming, sedative
- Spasmolytic
- Analgesic
- Hypotensive
For the next oil, we move on to a fruit
LEMON
Originally from Argentina, Lemon is one of the most widely used fruits in natural medicine. Its leaves are leathery and its flowers are highly fragrant. The essence is obtained by cold expression of the outer part of the fruit rind. Lemons are harvested twice a year: once in summer for the fruit and once in winter. It should be noted that it takes an enormous amount of lemons just to produce 1 litre of essential oil (essence), since 3,000 lemons are needed!
This essence is the most widely used essential oil in the world.
Advantages of Lemon essential oil
- Antibacterial
- Lipid-lowering
- Antinauseant
- Hepatic detoxifier, hepatoprotector
LEMON EUCALYPTUS
Lemon Eucalyptus is a large tree that can grow up to 50 metres high. In damp weather, you can smell a strong lemongrass scent coming from its long, spiky leaves. The fruits of this tree are small woody capsules made up of fine seeds. Lemongrass is known in particular for scaring away mosquitoes.
Advantages of Lemon Eucalyptus essential oil
- Anti-inflammatory, anti-rheumatic
- Insect repellent and acaricide
- Antifungal
- Antispasmodic
PEPPERMINT ESSENTIAL OIL
Peppermint is a hybrid of Mentha spicata and Mentha aquatica. Mint has dark green opposite leaves and small reddish or purplish flowers. Mint has tonic and stimulating properties.
Advantages of Peppermint essential oil
- Local analgesic
- Tonic and stimulant
- Antibacterial, antiviral, antifungal
- Antispasmodic
- Anti-inflammatory
TEA TREE ESSENTIAL OIL
The Tea Tree is native to Australia. The tallest trees can reach 7 metres in height. The fruits of the tea tree are small seeds in the form of capsules. Its flowers are extremely fragrant.
The name of this tree is misleading, as it must be understood that the tea tree has nothing to do with the tea plant. Its leaves will never be used in the preparation of any infusion!
Advantages of Tea Tree essential oil
- Antibacterial
- Antifungal
- Antiviral
- Immunostimulant
ESSENTIAL OIL OF CINNAMON
Native to China, this evergreen tree has simple leaves. It LOVES rain, high temperatures and rich, light soil. Its bark is thick. Its essential oil is renowned for its sweet scent, and is used in perfumery and aromatherapy for its powerful anti-infectious properties.
Advantages of cinnamon essential oil
- Anti-infective
- Anti-parasitic
- Tonic and stimulating
- Antispasmodic
ESSENTIAL OIL OF NIAOULI
The second oil on our list comes from Madagascar. Niaouli is an evergreen tree that grows to an average height of 15 metres. Its leaves are dark green. When you crumple its leaves, you can smell something quite fresh. Its flowers have a large number of long, pointed yellow stamens, which birds love and bees love for their excellent honey.
Advantages of Niaouli essential oil
- Antibacterial, antiviral
- Anti-inflammatory
GERANIUM ESSENTIAL OIL
Geranium is a plant native to southern Africa. Unlike other plants, its use in aromatherapy appears to be fairly recent, since no trace of very ancient use is known. The first distillations appear to have been carried out in the first half of the 19th century for use by perfumers.
Advantages of Geranium essential oil
- Anti-infective
- Antifungal
- Anti-inflammatory
SCOTS PINE ESSENTIAL OIL
Scots Pine is a majestic tree that grows throughout Europe and as far south as Siberia. Like the majority of essential oils derived from Conifers, Scots Pine essential oil acts mainly on the respiratory sphere: it clears congested airways and acts against coughs and sinusitis.
Advantages of Scots Pine essential oil
- Clears the respiratory tract
- Expectorant, mucolytic
- Tonic
You now know 10 essential oils. Each with its own special characteristics.
You can choose them according to your natural needs or simply their scent.
ATTENTION: This guide has been compiled to the best of our knowledge. Under no circumstances should it replace a diagnosis, consultation or medical follow-up.
