by Julia Lawless, 1999
There are literally hundreds and hundreds of essential oils which are used for a myriad of things: aromatherapy, cooking, perfumery, skin care, and medicine. If we had an encyclopedia of every existing essential oil you would need an elephant to carry it for you! This book is perfect for those who need the facts, all there, all upfront, with no delving into semantics that we just don't have time for. I have a very short attention span and this is like a medical textbook with pictures. Succinct yet descriptive, and extremely useful whether you are interested in aromatherapy or perfumery.
Each oil is listed alphabetically (though botanically, which was a bit of a conundrum...I think listing it by it's common name more user-friendly), there after facts are listed after the following topics.
- Herbal / folk tradition
- extraction method
- Characteristics (scent and which others it aromatically blends well with)
- Actions
- Principal constituents
- Aromatherapy / home use
- Other uses
- Distribution
- Other species
- Saftey data
There are 167 oils listed, plus a brief history of therapuetic and aromatic traditions at the beginning of the book.
It is a fanatstic buy if you need a quick reference book. I borrowed mine from the library, but am so pleased and use it so often I am off to get my own copy!
