Lavender

Common name: - Population lavender: grown from seedlings, each plant is genetically different.

Botanical name : Lavandula angustifolia Mill.

Some varieties of population lavender: Rapido, Carla

Some varieties of clonal lavender: Maillette and Matheronne

Selected or clonal lavender: from cuttings taken from the same original plant. Lavender may have been selected to improve its vigor and its essential oil yields. The same individual chosen for his qualities is reproduced identically.

Distinctive signs: The color of the plants varies from bluish white to intense blue. Each plant is genetically different from its neighbor. Fine lavender grows naturally in the dry Mediterranean mountains. It is cultivated between 600 m and 1,400 m altitude. It can be picked.

Production: 70 tonnes of essential oil per year, flowers and bouquets.

Yield: 1 hectare of lavender produces around 15 kg of essential oil for population lavender and around 40 kg for clonal lavender.

Uses: fine perfumery, pharmacy, cosmetics and aromatherapy.

Official quality sign: AOP lavender essential oil from Haute-Provence (guarantees of origin and quality).

Lavender is grown on approximately 3,500 ha in the same departments as Lavandin.

If the surface areas increased significantly until 2005, they have tended to decline since then, under the effect of successive droughts but also the phenomenon of dieback resulting from the action of a phytoplasma.

Vaucluse has the largest areas of lavender population, even if this French specificity tends to disappear in favor of clonal lavenders mainly established in the Alpes de Haute Provence.

National production, which rose to nearly 90 tonnes in 2005, was around 47 tonnes in 2012.

(source CIHEF)