Editing Lavandula (section)

==Description==
The genus includes annual or short-lived [[herbaceous]] [[perennial]] plants, and [[shrub]]-like perennials, [[subshrub]]s or small shrubs.<ref name="upsonandrews">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xvgq-6VAX8kC |last1=Upson |first1=T. |last2=Andrews |first2=S. |title=The Genus Lavandula |publisher=Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew 2004 |access-date=30 March 2012 |isbn=9780881926422 |year=2004 }}</ref>

[[Leaf shape]] is diverse across the genus. They are simple in some commonly cultivated species; in other species, they are pinnately toothed, or [[pinnate]], sometimes multiple pinnate and dissected. In most species, the leaves are covered in fine hairs or [[indumentum]], which normally contain essential oils.<ref name="upsonandrews"/>

Flowers are contained in [[whorl (botany)|whorls]], held on spikes rising above the foliage, the spikes being branched in some species. Some species produce colored [[bract]]s at the tips of the [[inflorescence]]s. The flowers may be blue, violet, or lilac in the wild species, occasionally blackish purple or yellowish. The [[sepal]] calyx is tubular. The [[corolla (flower)|corolla]] is also tubular, usually with five lobes (the upper lip often cleft, and the lower lip has two clefts).<ref>{{Cite book  |last=Bailey |first=L. H. |year=1924 |title=Manual of Cultivated Plants |url=https://digital.library.cornell.edu/catalog/chla3144681 |location=New York |publisher=MacMillan Publishing Company}}</ref>

===Phytochemicals===
Some 100 individual [[phytochemical]]s have been identified in lavender oil, including major contents of [[linalyl acetate]] (30–55%), [[linalool]] (20–35%), [[tannin]]s (5–10%), and [[caryophyllene]] (8%), with lesser amounts of [[sesquiterpenoid]]s, [[perillyl alcohol]]s, [[ester]]s, [[oxide]]s, [[ketone]]s, [[cineole]], [[camphor]], beta-[[ocimene]], [[limonene]], [[caproic acid]], and [[caryophyllene]] oxide.<ref name="drugs">{{cite web |date=19 December 2022 |title=Lavender |url=https://www.drugs.com/npp/lavender.html |access-date=24 June 2024 |publisher=Drugs.com}}</ref><ref name="lactmed">{{cite web |date=3 December 2018 |title=Lavender |url=https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK501865/ |access-date=15 August 2019 |publisher=Drugs and Lactation Database (LactMed), National Library of Medicine, US National Institutes of Health |pmid=30000925}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Umezu |first1=Toyoshi |last2=Nagano |first2=Kimiyo |last3=Ito |first3=Hiroyasu |last4=Kosakai |first4=Kiyomi |last5=Sakaniwa |first5=Misao |last6=Morita |first6=Masatoshi |date=1 December 2006 |title=Anticonflict effects of lavender oil and identification of its active constituents |journal=Pharmacology Biochemistry and Behavior |volume=85 |issue=4 |pages=713–721 |doi=10.1016/j.pbb.2006.10.026 |pmid=17173962 |s2cid=21779233}}</ref> The relative amounts of these compounds vary considerably among lavender species.<ref name="drugs" />