Abstract
Lavender essential oils have been used since antiquity as natural active constituents in products designed for dealing with a broad range of issues including those related to human hygiene, health and personal care, and those concerned with organic agriculture and pest management. The recent and rapidly growing public interest in “natural products” has renewed attention to these plants. Here we report on the composition and insect repellent properties of the essential oils obtained from 12 varieties of the two most commonly cultivated lavender species (L. angustifolia and L. intermedia), grown in an experimental plot in the Okanagan Valley of British Columbia, Canada. For comparison, we also analyzed oil composition for three additional lavender oil samples. Our results demonstrate that the locally grown plants produce essential oils that are similar to those found in other parts of the world in terms of the overall olfactory properties, and in that they contain the same constituents found in comparable lavender oils. Some of these oils, including those extracted from Premier, Grosso, Hidcote Giant, and Mailette exhibited potent insect repellent properties.