lavender

/ˈlævəndər/

/ˈlævɛndə/

Other forms: lavenders

You know that sweet-smelling plant with tiny purple-blue flowers your grandmother has growing in her garden? Well that’s lavender, a sweet-smelling evergreen with 93 different species.

If you’re brave and look in your grandmother’s drawer you’ll probably find dried sachets of lavender flowers to keep her clothes smelling nice, as lavender is one of the most common natural scents of all, including an oil made from its essence. The plant has also given its name to the color lavender. So, a plant, a scent and a color — not bad for one little shrub!

Definitions of lavender

1. noun

   any of various Old World aromatic shrubs or subshrubs with usually mauve or blue flowers; widely cultivated
   types:

   English lavender, Lavandula angustifolia, Lavandula officinalis

   aromatic Mediterranean shrub widely cultivated for its lilac flowers which are dried and used in sachets

   French lavender, Lavandula stoechas

   shrubby greyish lavender of southwestern Europe having usually reddish-purple flowers

   French lavender, Lavandula latifolia, spike lavender

   Mediterranean plant with pale purple flowers that yields spike lavender oil

   type of:

   bush, shrub

   a low woody perennial plant usually having several major stems
2. noun

   a pale purple color
   type of:

   purple, purpleness

   a purple color or pigment
3. adjective

   of a pale purple color
   synonyms: lilac, lilac-colored

   chromatic

   being, having, or characterized by hue