Meet the Essential OilPlant Families
Just like people, plants have families too. Learning which oils are botanically related can help you understand the plants behind your essential oils — and make your oil library much easier to remember.
Why Do Plant Families Matter?
Botanists organize plants into groups based on characteristics they share. One of those groups is called a plant family.
Plants within the same family are related botanically. They may share similar flower structures, leaf arrangements, growth habits or other physical characteristics.
You may be surprised to discover that many essential oils sitting next to each other on your shelf are actually botanical relatives.
Lavender, Peppermint, Rosemary, Basil and Oregano may smell completely different, but botanically they all belong to the same family: Lamiaceae — the Mint Family.
You do not need to memorize every botanical family to become a good blender. The goal is simply to begin recognizing the relationships between the plants you use.
Lavender + peppermint + rosemary + basil growing together
Lamiaceae
If essential oils had a celebrity family, this might be it. Lamiaceae contains an impressive number of aromatic herbs used in cooking, herbalism and aromatherapy.
Many members of this family contain aromatic compounds in tiny glandular structures on their leaves and flowers. Brush against a mint or rosemary plant and you can often smell those aromatic compounds immediately.
Essential Oils in This Family
- Lavender
- Peppermint
- Spearmint
- Rosemary
- Basil
- Thyme
- Oregano
- Clary Sage
- Patchouli
Lemons, oranges, grapefruit and citrus blossoms
Rutaceae
This is one of the easiest essential oil families to recognize. Rutaceae contains the familiar citrus trees that give us lemons, oranges, grapefruit, limes and mandarins.
The peels of citrus fruits contain tiny oil glands. When you bend or squeeze a fresh piece of citrus peel and see a fine mist spray into the air, you are seeing those aromatic oils being released.
Essential Oils in This Family
- Lemon
- Sweet Orange
- Grapefruit
- Bergamot
- Lime
- Tangerine
- Mandarin
- Neroli
- Petitgrain
Eucalyptus leaves + tea tree leaves + clove buds
Myrtaceae
The Myrtle family gives aromatherapy several powerful and very recognizable plants.
Many members are aromatic evergreen trees or shrubs with oil-rich leaves, flowers or buds.
Essential Oils in This Family
- Eucalyptus
- Tea Tree
- Clove
- Myrtle
- Niaouli
- Cajeput
Fir and pine branches with needles and cones
Pinaceae
Walk through a conifer forest and you are surrounded by members of this family.
Pinaceae contains many needle-bearing evergreen trees whose essential oils have the fresh, resinous aromas we commonly associate with forests.
Essential Oils in This Family
- Balsam Fir
- Black Spruce
- Douglas Fir
- Scots Pine
- White Fir
Cypress + juniper berries + cedar foliage
Cupressaceae
Cupressaceae is another important family of aromatic conifers. At first glance, it is easy to lump these plants together with the Pine family, but botanically they belong to a different family.
Essential Oils in This Family
- Cypress
- Juniper Berry
- Cedarwood Virginia
Fennel, coriander and carrot-family umbrella-shaped flowers
Apiaceae
This family contains many familiar culinary plants and spices. Its members can look very different at first, but many produce distinctive clusters of tiny flowers arranged almost like umbrellas.
Essential Oils in This Family
- Fennel
- Coriander
- Dill
- Carrot Seed
Chamomile and helichrysum flowers
Asteraceae
Asteraceae is an enormous family of flowering plants. Daisies, sunflowers and many familiar wildflowers belong here.
What looks like one flower is often actually a collection of many tiny flowers packed together into a single flower head.
Essential Oils in This Family
- German Chamomile
- Roman Chamomile
- Helichrysum
- Yarrow
Tall lemongrass, citronella grass and vetiver
Poaceae
Yes — some of the essential oils in your collection actually come from grasses.
Poaceae is the enormous botanical family that includes grasses as well as important food crops such as wheat, rice and corn. Aromatherapy gives us several wonderfully fragrant members.
Essential Oils in This Family
- Lemongrass
- Citronella
- Palmarosa
- Vetiver
Fresh ginger roots with tropical ginger foliage
Zingiberaceae
The Ginger family contains aromatic tropical plants famous for their rhizomes — underground stems that may look a lot like roots.
If you have ever chopped fresh ginger in your kitchen, you already know just how aromatic these plants can be.
Essential Oils in This Family
- Ginger
- Cardamom
- Turmeric
Frankincense tree with resin tears
Burseraceae
This family gives us some of aromatherapy's most famous resin-derived essential oils.
Trees in this family produce aromatic resins. When the bark is naturally damaged or intentionally tapped, resin can flow from the tree and gradually harden.
Essential Oils in This Family
- Frankincense
- Myrrh
- Elemi
The Big Idea
Plant families give you another way to understand your essential oils. Instead of seeing dozens of unrelated bottles, you can begin seeing groups of plants that share botanical connections.
Start by recognizing a few big families. The more you work with your oils, the more naturally these relationships will begin to stick.
You will probably notice these families again and again as you move through your Oil Library.
Plant Family Quick Reference
This information is provided for educational purposes as part of the Blending Lab curriculum. Botanical classification can change as plant relationships are studied and reclassified. Always use the botanical name when identifying an essential oil.
