LAVANDULA ANGUSTIFOLIA ‘SPONNEE’ – SEED LAVENDER
Our ‘Sponnee’ essential oil is the product of self seeded plants collected from between our rows of established lavender and planted out in dedicated patches. As with all seed derived plants no two are exactly alike, nevertheless each contains genetic material from the parent plants and in this way the Sponnees shadow in interesting ways our established cultivars with the oils showing distinctive markers of their heritage. We have distilled the flower from these plants since 2008 and each year, while showing variances this oil is so far genetically reflective of the cultivar Bee, a naturally fertile cultivar in our conditions. Importantly seed developed lavender characteristically enables the genetic complexity and individual potentials of plants for alternative chemistries, and expressions of beauty, to be reflected in the essential oil produced. These qualities are appealing for those sensitive to the fact that botanical diversity is nature’s own way.
ESSENTIAL OIL
So far our Sponnee essential oils have all been well balanced with significantly high levels of both linalool and linalyl acetate (65 %-70%) with negligible levels of camphor and 1-8 cineole. While reminiscent of the bee cultivar, the oils produced so far have a lighter sweetness, than that cultivar, with an intriguing hint of orange blossom in the front notes not found in any of our other lavender oils. The higher than normal levels of the tenacious and spicy floral honey tones of 3 – octanone, beta-caryophellene and cis-ß-ocimene give depth in the middle notes drying to light powdery sweet finish. The fresh hints of rose leaf and orange are attributable to farsenene and terpinen-4-ol probably a genetic contribution from our Pacific Blue cultivar. Due to the more random nature of population oils each year will yield a slightly different balance of chemistry our current bottling is from our 2014 distillation year. Our 2015 oils will be released in January 2016
HYDROSOL
The hydrosol derived from the Sponnee distillation (2012) highlights a peppery earthiness which is somewhat at odds to the refined fruity floral sweetness of the essential oil. There is only a hint of the piquant honey notes typical of most angustifolia hydrosols. As with all our lavender hydrosols Sponnee comes off the still with a pH level well below 4.5 (2014 our current bottling was distilled 3.6) giving it a high level of astringency.
TYPICAL PHYTOCHEMICAL PROFILE RANGE, L.A. SPONNEE 2008 – 2014
linalool 29.88 – 34.81 • linalyl acetate 27.96 – 34.81 • lavandulol 0.06 – 0.56 • lavandulyl acetate 0.22 – 2.40 • limonene/ ß-phellandrene 0.49 – 1.12• octen -3-ol 0.15 – 0.41 • 1,8-cineole trace - 0.28 • cis-ß-ocimene 3.33 – 8.18 • trans-ß-ocimene 1.30 – 2.43 • 3-octanone 2.03 – 5.00 • octen-3-yl acetate 1.01 – 2.03 • geranyl acetate 0.48 – 0.82 • neryl acetate 0.18 - 0.28 • camphor 0.19 – 0.52 • borneol 0.75 – 1.48 • terpinen-4-ol 0.10 – 3.80 • α- terpineol 0.42 – 0.82 • ß – caryophyllene 1.82 – 3.15 • (E)-beta-farsenene 0.43 – 1.03 • α –santalene 1.08