Chemistry of Essential Oils

0-942 to 0'963

+ 32°

1-4680 ,

1

12

65

, + 44°

, 1-4800

, 8

, 25

, 75

LABIATE 203

The oil resembles rosemary oil rather than lavender oil in odour,

having a distinctly camphoraceous smell. The dried flowers yield about

0*8 per cent, of essential oil which has the following characters :—

Specific gravity0-942to0

Optical rotar-ion ..+32°,+

Refractive index1-4680, 1

Acid value 1 , 8

Eater „. 12 , 25

„ „ (after acetylation).....65,

It is soluble in 2 to 3 volumes of 70 per cent, alcohol.

The oil contains d-camphor, d-fenchone, and probably fenchyl-

alcohol

OIL OF LAVANDULA STOECHAS.

Lavdndula Stoechas is the herb known as Eomero santo (holy rose-

mary) by he Spaniards. The essential oil is very similar in odour to

that of Lavandula dentata, resembling rosemary rather than lavender.

It has the following characters :—

Specific gravity 0-930 to 0-935

Optical rotation - 36° „ - 40°

Refractive index 1:4700 „ 1-4730

Acid value 2 ,, 4

Ester „ 95 „ 110

The oil is soluble in 3 to 4 volumes of 70 per cent, alcohol.

It contains cineol, a ketone which is probably pino-camphor, and a

highly laevo-rotatory alcohol.

OIL OF LAVANDULA PEDUNCULATA.

This oil has been obtained from lavender plants growing in Portugal.

It has no commercial value. It has a specific gravity 0

*

939, optical

rotation - 45°, and contains about 39 per cent, of esters. It is soluble

in an equal volume of 80 per cent, alcohol. It contains cineol, and prob-

ably thujone.

OIL OF LAVANDULA BURMANNI.

Two samples of this oil from plants grown in India have been ex-
amined by Schimmel & Co.
1
One was distilled from the flowers only,
the other from the leaves. The oils had the following characters :—
Leaf Oil. Flower Oil.
Specific gravity 0-9131 0-9309
Optical rotation - 0° 40' + 1° 40'
Acid value... 9-9 1-9
Ester„36-3 115-7
Samples of these oils have been examined at the Indian Institute of
Science at Bangalore and found to have the following characters :—

Leaf Flower

Oil. Oil.

Specific gravity at —o 0-895 0-921

Refractive index at 25° 1-4S30 1*4683

Saponification value 44-25 149-5

„ „ (after acetylation) .... 141-5 199

(^1) SchimmePs Bericht, October, 1913, 110.