The Aromatic Plant Project ~ Introduction

OWYHEE: Artemisia ludoviciana

by Jeanne Rose & George Sturtz

A New Essential Oil

There is a vast and special place in the northern part of the United States that encompasses parts of southeastern Oregon, northern Nevada and southern Idaho, called the Owyhee Canyonlands. It is the largest unprotected wild area in the lower 48 states.

History and Name
Peter Ogden in 1819 or Donald McKenzie in 1818, depending upon what source you refer to, led a contingent of Hudson Bay trappers into this area. "Two Hawaiians were sent to trap on a tributary of the Snake River, where McKenzie/Ogden was camped. They were killed by Indians, and Ogden or McKenzie named the tributary of the river for them. The Hawaiian River eventually became corrupted into the Owyhee River" and thus the name. The Latin binomial ludoviciana means 'from Louisiana'. The Lewis and Clark expedition found the plant first early on in their explorations in what is now Louisiana, and then continued to find the plant throughout their journey into the West.
I have been distilling for about 10 years now and own several stills. George Sturtz taught me how to distill for the blue-colored essential oils. He is an expert on the Artemisia genus and the areas where they live, which includes most of the northern Nevada and Idaho as well as Washington and Oregon.

Uses
The oil and hydrosol of Owyhee have powerful uses for skin care and in custom body care products. There are applications in skin care for healing inflamed skin, as a soothing facial spray, and it is great as a fragrant mister on bed linens for scent and sleep.

Autumn 2001

Index to AROMAtherapy 2037 Articles (1995 - 1999)

Spring 1995	Aromatherapy Gardening Essential Oils for Spring
Summer 1995	Hydrosols: The "Other Product of Distillation Uses of Floral Water & Hydrosols Asthma-Some Therapies that Work
Autumn 1995	Aphrodisiacs Herbs for the Brains Linen; the Herbal Fabric Spritzes & Hydrosols Fragrant Pest Control
Winter 1995/96	AT Recipes for the Breasts Ancient Perfumery Poison Ivy & Oak Case Studies
Spring 1996	101 Ways to use Hydrosols Stress Relief with Aromatherapy The Smell of Death New Help for Fibromyalgia
Autumn/Winter 1996/97	Review of 1996's Top Herbs Herbal Grande Dame Bequeaths Rare Herbal Library Herbs and Oils for Dreaming Aromatherapy for Weight Loss Scents of the Bible How to Use Essential Oils & Hydrosols
Spring 1997	Aromatherapy for Daily Life Jeanne Rose Interview
Summer 1997	Floral Concretes Extraction Hot Seaweed Baths The Scent of Immunity
Autumn 1997	Natural Treatments for Depression The Electronic Sniffer

Winter 1997/98	Phermones and Other Sexy Scents Aromatherapy for Lovers
Spring 1998	Use of Essential Oils & Hydrosols for Alzheimer's How to Give an Aromatherapy Lecture
Summer 1998	Update to the Aromatic Plant Project: Which Plants to Distill for Hydrosol APP Launch
Autumn 1998	50 Ways to Use Essential Oils Short Course in Aromatherapy Botany Distillation Information
Winter 1998/99	Staging an Aromatherapy Conference Text of Jeanne Rose Lecture on Hydrosols and the APP, Part I Resins Bibliography
Spring 1999	Aromatherapy Treatments for Hayfever and Allergies Essential Oils used in Suppositories & Orally Text of Jeanne Rose Lecture on Hydrosols and the APP, Part II Plant Education Organic Seeds & Plants Source List
Summer 1999	Aromatherapy for Migraines Essential Oils for Treatment of Addiction How to Promote Essential Oils & Aromatherapy
APP News	Lemon-Scented Oils Organic Seeds & Plant Source List, cont'd. Buyer's Guide to Hydrosols Distiller Profile

Summer 2001

The History of Hydrosols in the U.S.

The Aromatic Plant Project was originally founded in 1990 by Jeanne Rose as the "Lavender Project" to encourage the growing and distillation of correctly chosen Lavender plants that would produce a quality hydrosol and essential oil. In 1995 after again touring the wine country and seeing the need to expand this vision, Jeanne Rose chose to include all aromatic plants as a part of the project and the name was changed to The Aromatic Plant Project. In 1998, a Board was selected and Jeanne Rose was appointed permanent Executive Director, and it was decided to evolve into a non-profit educational association. Shannon Thompson offered to produce a set of by-laws. These by-laws were made and passed by the Board and eventually approved by the IRS near the end of 1999 to include all 1999 donations.

See the Summer 2001 Issue of THE AROMATIC NEWS for
The History of Hydrosols in the U.S.

Please visit JeanneRose.com for information on Jeanne Rose Aromatherapy Kits

Using Hydrosols in Cooking and in the Home

Hydrosols are a skin-care product par excellence, the result of the distillation of organically grown plants with natural deep earth spring water. The hydrosol is a complete and synergistic balance of herbal therapy and aromatherapy. Herbal therapy gives the hydrosol the water-soluble plant components from steam-distillation and aromatherapy give the hydrosol both scent and taste, as well as the therapeutic benefits of essential oil. Natural scent, great taste, aromatic and herbal therapeutic benefits make the hydrosol a perfect addition to anyone's skin care routine.

See the Summer 2001 Issue of THE AROMATIC NEWS for
Recipes for cooking and using hydrosols in the home

Spring 2001

Pear Essence The Birth of a New Oil, by Jeanne Rose

Yes, it really is true, there is an essential oil from Bartlett Pears. That's right! This fruit does produce an essential oil. However, it takes 20 tons of pears to produce about 3 ounces of essential oil. Here is the story of finding this precious substance.

Recently, an aromatherapy conference was held near my hometown of San Francisco. I had a house full of friends visiting that had all decided to go to the conference but I on the other hand had not been invited to speak nor had I decided to pay to attend. So on the Saturday of the conference I planned to go to Alameda Island and check out St. George's Spirits' eau de vie distillery there and taste some of their new products. Ah! from such small decisions do great events happen.

At St. Georges's Spirits I met Lance Winters the distiller and began to discuss distillation. He remembered me from an incident several years ago, when the company allowed one of their distillers to distill the high azulene Blue Artemis (Artemisia arborescens) in their smallest eau de vie still. The Blue Artemis left behind enough heavy blue particles of azulene to cause everything that came through it to turn blue for days after our experimental distillation. [ummm! what a way to turn an alcoholic drink blue without synthetic colors]. Lance and I laughed about the incident and he began to talk about a Pear Essence that he had collected. Fruit does not produce an essential oil, that I knew, but a Pear Essence? What was he talking about?

See the Spring 2001 Issue of THE AROMATIC NEWS or
visit our Online Archives for the complete article including
the fascinating conclusion of this article including the GC/MS report!

Please visit the JeanneRose.net for information on the
Jeanne Rose Aromatherapy Kits

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