172 THE CHEMISTEY OF ESSENTIAL OILS
This oil contains a-pinene (?), principally as the laevo-rotatory variety,
and phellandrene. The oxygenated constituents include cineol, Z-linalol,
geraniol, eugenol, and methyl-eugenol. The highest boiling fractions
contain a sesquiterpene and a sesquiterpene alcohol.
Molle
l
has investigated the oil and found present acetic, isovalerianic,
and isobutyric acid in the free states. He also found a small quantity
of esterified eugenol. Acetic, valerianic, and caproic acids were found
in the form of esters, as well as a monobasic acid of the formula
C 10 H 1402 melting at 146° to 147°. Molle does not confirm the state-
ment of Wallach, that pinene is present in the oil.
The leaves of a Java laurel tree, known as Trawas leaves, yield,
according to van Komburgh
2
an essential oil having the following
characters :—
Specific gravity 0-836 to 0*846
Optical rotation - 0° 10' „ - 7°
The principal constituent of the oil is nonylene-methyl-ketone, which
forms a semicarbazone melting at 116°. The oil also contains methyl-
nonyl-carbinol and a second alcohol undecenol-l-ol-10 (specific gravity
0-835; boiling-point 233°).
PROTEACE/E.
OIL OF STIBLINGIA LATIFOLIA.
H. V. Marr^3 has examined the oil distilled from the whole of the
shrub, Stirlingia latifolia, and finds it to have the following characters :—
Specific gravity at 15° 1-031
BoiliDg-point 195° to 205°
Optical rotation + 0
- 2°
The oil solidifies in crystals almost completely at 12°.
The oil was found to consist almost entirely of acetophenone.
The shrub grows freely in low-lying, sandy country from Geraldton
to Bunbury in Western Australia, and should form a useful source for
acetophenone.
MYRISTICE>E.
The only oils belonging to this family of the slightest importance
are those distilled from the nutmeg and mace, which are the products
of Myristica fragrans, the seed of which consists of the well-known
nutmeg enclosed in a testa, which is covered by an arillus (according
to Planchon, this latter is only an extension of the exostome, and there-
fore a false arillus, or arillode). The arillus is known as mace, and from
both this and the nutmeg essential oils are distilled.
This natural order is confined to the tropics, and Myristica fragrans
is the typical plant yielding the ordinary nutmeg. It is an inhabitant
of the Moluccas, being specially abundant in the Banda Isles, three of
which, Lontar, Pulo, Ai, and Pulo Nera, are often known as the " Nut-
meg Islands ". At one time the Dutch attempted to confine the culti-
vation to these islands, and when supplies were rather more abundant
than usual the excess was said to have been burned in order to keep up
prices. The seed was however conveyed elsewhere by the " nutmeg
1
2 Inaugural Thesis, Basle, 1903.
3 Konink Akad. Weten. Amsterdam, 28, 10 (1911), p. 325.
Private communication to the author.