Description
Botany and Taxonomy for Essential Oil Enthusiasts explains how plants are named and categorized. Why is this important to those who use essential oils? Because there is a world of differences depending on which “species” you are referring to and sometimes where the oil was even sourced. Most essential oil enthusiasts probably have never thought that different species of a plant might render different chemistries and therefore different actions. But to the clinical aromatherapist, this is valuable information. For an aromatherapist to be effective in their work with clients, it is critical that they understand the importance of using only therapeutic pure or medicinal quality essential oils. Here are some questions to consider. Do you know the country of origin from which the oil was sourced? What is the particular species used for this oil? Where was the plant grown, harvested, and the oil distilled, even bottled? Do you know from what part of the plant the oil came from—root, stem, leaf, or flower? Does that plant produce only one kind of oil or do we get different oils from different parts of the plant? Don’t under-estimate the importance of each of these questions.
