What are essential oils?
You will hear people say a lot of things about essential oils. Some will say that they are the life blood of the plant, or that they are the essence of the plant’s life force. That’s all “hooey”.
Plants can make two types of oils. They all make fixed oils which are fatty triglycerides and some make a second type, essential oils. These essential oils carry the aromatic quality of the plant. They are comprised of very small molecules that have unique molecular structures and are volatile (that means they vaporize or convert to a gas and escape into the air.
The fixed oils are used in the core chemistry of the plant’s metabolism, but the essential oils are “secondary” (meaning they can help the plant, but are not needed for the plant to live). It is these secondary functions that make these oils very interesting. Plants use them for a variety of reasons. These essential oils can be used as a defense tool to fend off attack from other plants, parasites, viruses, bugs, or bacteria. They can also be used to protect the plant from ultraviolet rays, help heal wounds or regulate temperature. The oils are also used by the plants to attract animals or insects needed to successfully pollinate.
Where can you find essential oils?
Essential oils do not course through the veins of the plant. The oils are stored by the plant in a variety of secretory structures. These structures can be cells, cavities, sacks, etc. One of the most common places plants secrete and store these oils is in glandular trichomes. The picture in this blog post shows a trichome on a plant leaf. The essential oils are stored in the tiny little bulbs you can see in the picture.
Well, next time someone asks you what are essential oils, you’ll know a little bit more about them. You’ll know what they actually are, and where they come from. And you should also know that for thousands of years people have been conducting human trials to determine how these plant can be used to support health and wellness. We will have more articles here explaining the science behind these oils (because it is science and not hippy voodoo magic).
