Aromatherapy Botany Workshop and Field Trip to Kew Gardens

Open to qualified and student aromatherapists

Botany is defined as the scientific study of plants; that is, in basic terms, understanding how a plant is structured and its ecological relationship to both the environment and its interactions with other plants and organisms. Botany is a broad, and complicated, area of study, yet having a basic knowledge of botany can help greatly with understanding the study of aromatherapy.
During the first part of the course we will cover:
- Why plants produce essential and fixed oils
- The secret life of plants - photosynthesis, primary and secondary metabolism and its relevance to aromatherapy
- How oils are stored in plants – different structures dedicated to oil storage in plants.
- Through the peeping hole – plant tissues under the professional microscope - Seeing is believing!
- How do we know it is a plant? (plant cell vs animal cell)
- Plant anatomy, physiology and sex life – angiosperms and gymnosperms
- Plant classification – the past and the present - Carl Linneaus and binominal system
- Do we really need the ‘fancy’ Latin names? Oh, yes, we do!
- Who is who in the world of plants – meet botanical plant families.
- Chemotypes
- In search of the oils - seeds, rhizomes, flowers, etc
- General therapeutic properties of the essential oils of each botanical family
- And more

This unique and fascinating course is a ‘must’ for any serious aromatherapist. This is the course where the penny drops! There is nothing as powerful as seeing the oils in their natural state - this transition from textbook aromatherapy to the ‘real thing’ is when it all starts to make sense.