There's obviously a lot of nonsense that floats around in the herbal medicine community. But antimicrobial plants are relatively common, and applied topically, they do what you would expect them to. They generally aren't an antibiotic replacement because they aren't orally bio-available. They won't reach an infection in the periphery if you eat them.
To make a medicinal plant more effective you can immerse a lot of it in a solvent and use that to extract and concentrate the chemical you care about. These concentrates are commonly referred to as "essential oils".
None of this stuff was invented by a person, working for a corporation, and so you should not expect to see any of it commercialized, regardless of its efficacy. There will always be a synthetic analog, usually more effective (because it has been designed), and more importantly, patent-able.
that's a tincture or elixir, not an essential oil. essential oils are usually obtained by steam distillation, which does not involve a solvent. and there are lots of tinctures, elixirs, and essential oils commercially available
To make a medicinal plant more effective you can immerse a lot of it in a solvent and use that to extract and concentrate the chemical you care about. These concentrates are commonly referred to as "essential oils".
None of this stuff was invented by a person, working for a corporation, and so you should not expect to see any of it commercialized, regardless of its efficacy. There will always be a synthetic analog, usually more effective (because it has been designed), and more importantly, patent-able.