Lavender and lavandin, Saignon

 Our hosts gave us a lesson in lavender this year. The field above is the classic Provencal lavender. Lovely scent and true lavender color. Rather small plants with smaller flowers. The field below is lavandin, a variety of lavender, probably a hybrid. It has longer flowers and grows much larger. It produces 50% more oil than lavender but contains more camphor, better for colds but a little more medicinal in scent. It is also a bit more towards blue. It is sterile and does not propagate from seed, like it's cousin, only cuttings. It is probably more profitable to grow but produces an inferior oil.