- Vapours
- Mentholated salve which is applied to the chest and nose to relieve congestion; medicated steam.
- Vascular Plant
- Any plant, as the angiosperms, gymnosperms, or ferns, in which the xylem and phloem conduct water and organic nutrients.
- Vermifuge
- A substance that serves to expel worms.
- Vesicant
- An agent that produces a blister or blisters.
- Villous
- Having long, soft hairs.
- Vinegar
- A liquid used in cosmetics to soften, cleanse, and soothe the skin.
- Vitamin Capsules
- A convenient way to add vitamins to skin creams.
- Volatile
- unstable, evaporating easily.
- Volatile Oils
- Complex compounds that are chemical mixtures of hydrogen carbons and alcohols in plants.
Volatile oils evaporate easily and are extracted from plants to produce essential oils. Volatile oils are aromatic, flammable liquids. They resemble fixed oils only in solubility. Some are fragrant while others are decidedly unpleasant. They dissolve in alcohol in varying proportions but very slightly in water. They are usually colourless or have a yellowish tinge. They are usually separable into a crystallized portion and a fluid portion . With but one or two exceptions, they are obtained through distillation. One example of an herb with valuable volatile oils is Tea tree, known to contain over 60 different volatile compounds within its volatile oil with many of them being strongly antiseptic. Some volatile oils contain sesquiterpenes, such as azulene found in German chamomile. These have an anti-inflammatory effect.
- Vulnerary
- Any substance that has both styptic and antiseptic properties and most used as a remedy for wounds; a preparation applied externally, but its action, being just as relevant for such wounds as stomach ulcers.
