Rosemary Essential Oil - Rosmarinus Officinalis

Oil of Rosemary (Rosmarinus Officinalis) is one of the best aromatic oils due to its incredible antioxidant properties. This evergreen plant is called Rosmarinus Officinalis in Latin, and it means “the dew of the sea.” The oil is a steam distillation from the leaves and the flowers of rosemary.

Rosemary plant is native to the Mediterranean; you can see this plant thrive just about anywhere in countries like Turkey, Spain, France, Italy, and Portugal.

It’s a member of the Lamiaceae plant, just as Peppermint. This plant has got some beautiful pink and white flowers and can stand long periods without water. It’s an herb that’s hard to start from the seed, but once it’s established, it can live up to 30 years. Usually, it reaches around a 1.5-meter height, and in warm climates, it blooms almost all the time.

Brief History

Believe it or not, the first mentions of rosemary go back to 5000 B.C and found on the Sumero-Akkadian cuneiform stone tablets. Besides that, the ancient Egyptians are known to use rosemary in their burial rituals. Then comes the ancient Roman & Greek times.

Pliny the Elder, Roman naturalist, wrote about it in The Natural History. Pedanius Dioscorides, a Greek botanist, also mentioned rosemary in his art piece, De Materia Medica, which is a book written purely on herbal medicine and read for 1500 years.

Rosemary made it’s way to China in 220 A.D, to the U.K in 1338 and the Americas at the beginning of the 17th century.

Main Constituents

Rosemary essential oil has a fairly dominant compound called: 1.8 cineole. Other constituents are; α-pinene, β-pinene, camphor, camphene, β-caryophyllene, borneol, α-Terpineol, myrcene, and limonene.

Main Benefits

Rosemary essential oil’s top benefit is by far the hair growth properties. In research compared to minoxidil, rosemary oil accomplished the same hair growth properties after 6 months of exposure.

Here comes another almost unique benefit of rosemary essential oil: memory-boosting! In research by the University of Northumbria, rosemary essential oil helped people become more alert and improve the overall quality of memory.

The last benefit worth mentioning is the liver cleansing capabilities of rosemary essential oil. Mice were put into chemically induced liver cirrhosis and treated successfully with rosemary extract afterward.

Uses & Blending

Diffusing rosemary oil or topical application of a diluted in carrier oils like coconut oil to the upper neck can be a great help in terms of memory. So next time you have an essential task, don’t hesitate to test it out.

You can make a hair thickening serum or a shampoo by using rosemary oil and a few other ingredients like castile soap and Peppermint or lavender oil. A mixture of peppermint essential oil, rosemary oil, and coconut oil can be used to soothe sore muscles and pains.

Rosemary essential oil’s perfumery note is middle, and this oil blends well with:

Basil, frankincense, sage, thyme, citronella, chamomile, lemongrass, lavender, Peppermint, and eucalyptus essential oils.