Lavender is a genus of 39 species of flowering plants in the mint family, Lamiaceae. It is native to the Old World and is found from Cape Verde and the Canary Islands, southern Europe across to northern and eastern Africa, the Mediterranean, south west Asia to south east India. Many members of the genus are cultivated extensively in temperate climates as ornamental plants for garden and landscape use, and also commercially for the extraction of essential oils.

From the beloved fragrance to the beautiful purple colour of the flowering plant, lavender fields are a popular destination for photographers. The vast purple fields can make for some stunning landscapes and a quick search on Flickr for ‘lavender fields‘ brings up nearly 17,000 results. Below is a small selection of beautiful photos taken by photographers on Flickr.

The images were embedded using Flickr’s share button. If you are one of the photographers below and do not want your image used, please leave a comment or send a note to submit@twistedsifter.com and it will be removed. Now imagine the smell of lavender as you peruse the gallery!