French lavender facts for kids

The topped lavender, also known as French lavender, is a beautiful perennial shrub. This means it's a plant that lives for more than two years. It usually grows to be about 30 to 100 centimeters (about 1 to 3 feet) tall. Its leaves are 1 to 4 centimeters long and have a soft, grayish, fuzzy feel.

The flowers are usually pinkish or purple. They grow on spikes that are 2 to 3 centimeters long. Each tiny flower has a special leaf-like part called a bract underneath it, which is about 4 to 8 millimeters long. At the very top of the flower spike, you'll see many larger, bright lavender or sometimes white bracts that look like little flags. You can find many different types of topped lavender, called subspecies, in Spain and other nearby countries.

What Does Topped Lavender Look Like?

This plant is an evergreen shrub, which means it keeps its leaves all year round. It typically grows to be about 30 to 100 centimeters (around 1 to 3 feet) tall. Sometimes, a special type called luisieri can even grow up to 2 meters (about 6.5 feet) high!

The leaves are 1 to 4 centimeters long. They are grayish and covered in tiny, soft hairs, making them feel fuzzy. This fuzzy texture is called tomentose.

The pretty flowers appear in late spring and early summer. They can be pink or purple and grow on spikes about 2 centimeters long. These spikes sit on top of thin, leafless stems that are 10 to 30 centimeters long. Each small flower has a special leaf-like part, called a bract, underneath it. These bracts are about 4 to 8 millimeters long. What makes topped lavender special are the much larger, colorful bracts at the very top of the spike. These can be 10 to 50 millimeters long and are usually a bright lavender purple, though sometimes they are white. These top bracts don't have flowers between them.

Different Types of Topped Lavender

There are a few main types, or subspecies, of topped lavender:

• L. stoechas pedunculata: This is the most common type. It grows naturally in many coastal areas around the Mediterranean Sea, and also along the Atlantic coasts of Morocco and Spain. There are many variations within this type.
• L. stoechas luisieri: This type has petals that are less connected to each other. You can mostly find it in Portugal and nearby parts of Spain.

How to Grow Topped Lavender

Topped lavender is a bit more delicate than the common lavender (Lavandula angustifolia). It doesn't handle cold winters as well. Its oils are also stronger and more like resin. Like other lavenders, it loves hot, dry, and sunny places with alkaline soils (soils that are not acidic).

However, it can grow in different conditions, though it might not live as long in some places. People often grow special types of topped lavender as ornamental plants, just for their beauty. For example, a type called 'Willow Vale' has even won an award for being a great garden plant!

What is Topped Lavender Used For?

Lavandula stoechas is used in some products you might recognize. It's used in air fresheners to make things smell nice and in insecticides to help get rid of bugs.

Historically, people have used the flower spikes for different purposes. Some used them for headaches, to help with feeling irritable, for colds with a fever, and for nausea (feeling sick to your stomach). Outside the body, it was used on wounds, for pain in joints and muscles (rheumatic pain), and to keep insects away.

Is Topped Lavender an Invasive Plant?

When topped lavender was brought to Australia, it started spreading very quickly. It became an invasive species, which means it grows so well that it can harm the local plants and environment. In Victoria, Australia, it has been officially called a "noxious weed" since 1920 because of how much it spreads. It's also considered a weed in some parts of Spain.

Images for kids

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  Topped lavender in bloom

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  Wild L. stoechas

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  Wild in Ceuta, Spain

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  Subspecies pedunculata

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  Subspecies luisieri

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  Topped lavender in Italy