KUBIACE^E 273
Since the odour of the essential oil does not pre-exist, it may be in-
ferred that in this root two substances are present, normally separated,
which are capable of yielding an essential oil by their reciprocal action.
Two glucosides have been separated from the roots by Goris, Mascre,
and Vischniac,^1 which have been termed primeverin and primulaverin,
and which are both hydrolysed, yielding the two constituents of the
essential oil.
Primaveria has the formula C 20 H 28 O 13 and melts at 206°, and on
hydrolysis yields sugars and the methyl ester of /3-methoxyresorcylic
acid, of the formula.
C. CO. 0. CH 3
H. C/\C. OH
H. Cv^yCH
C. O. CH 3
This is the solid constituent of the essential oil, melting at 49*.
It has been described by Mutschler
2
as primulla camphor.
Primulaverin, C 20 H 28 O 13 , melts at 163°, and on hydrolysis yields the
liquid portion of the essential oil, which is the methyl ester of m-meth-
oxysalicytic acid, of the formula
C. CO. O. CH 3
H. C/\C. OH
CH,. O
C. H
The essential oil from the flowers is practically identical with that
from the roots.
RUBIACE^E.OIL OF GARDENIA.The flowers of Gardenia florida and Gardenia grandiflora yield, on
maceration with petroleum, and distillation of the extract, about 0 * 07
per cent, of an essential oil having a specific gravity T009 and a specific
rotation + 1 - 47°.
According to Parone,
3
the oil contains benzyl acetate, stryroyl
acetate, linalol, linalyl acetate, terpeneol and methyl anthraniiate.OIL OP CHIONE GLABRA.The bark of this tree, which is found in Grenada, yields 15 per cent,
of essential oil, which has been examined by Dunstan and Henry.^4 It
is a liquid, depositing crystals on being cooled to - 20°. The principal
constituent is a substance of the formula C 8 H 8 O 2 , of specific gravity
0 850, and crystallising at low temperatures.
It forms an oxime melting at 112° and a phenylhydrazone melting
at 108°. It appears to be ortho-oxyacetophenone, C 6 H 4. OH. CO. CH 3.
Traces of indol or a similar nitrogenous compound are also present.
(^1) Roure-Bertrand Fils, Bulletin, October, 1912, 3. Annalen, 185 (1877), 222.
•> Bull. Chim. Farm., 41 (1902), 489. Jour. Chem. Soc., 75 (1899), 66.
VOL. I. 18