Chemistry of Essential Oils

EEICACE^l

ERICACEAE.

Andromeda Leschenaultii... Broughton

Gaultheria procumbens L...

„ fragrantissima Wall.

(Gaultheria punctata Blume.

„ Leschenaultii, D. 0.)

Gaultheria leucocarpa Blume

Cahours... 1843

Broughton.. 1867

Koehler... 1879

Numerous other plants are mentioned in Schimmel's Report, 1900

(April).

The author has also detected traces of it in some plants of the

natural order Violacece.

OIL OF GAULTHEKIA PUNCTATA.

Gaultheria punctata, a plant growing in British India, and also in

the Dutch Indies, yields, according to De Vrij, from 0 * 75 to 1*15 per

cent, of essential oil. The oil has the following characters:—

Specific gravity 1-1825 to 1-1877

Optical rotation 0°

Refractive index 1*5348

Methyl salicylate 97-9 to 99 per cent.

It is practically identical with ordinary wintergreen oil.

OIL OF MARSH TEA.

Ledum palustre, also known as "wild Kosemary," a plant of this
natural order, yields from •£ to 2 per cent, of an essential oil. The plant
is one flourishing in marshy places in the northern parts of North
America, Asia, and Europe. The leaves and flowering twigs are used
for distillation, and the oil obtained is of a reddish-yellow colour and
sharp taste and odour, having a specific gravity from 0'930 to 0

960. The oil appears to consist almost entirely of a sesquiterpene alcohol
     G 16 H 26 O, which has been termed ledum camphor, and a sesquiterpene
     possibly identical with that obtained by treating the camphor with de-
     hydrating agents, and which has been named ledene. Ledum camphor
     forms long white needles, melting at 104° and boiling at 282°, and having
     a specific rotation of + 8° in alcoholic solution. A ketone of the formula
     C 15 H 24 0 is also present in the oil. The oil possesses strongly narcotic
     properties, and is said to be occasionally illicitly added to beer to render
     it more intoxicating. This, however, is very doubtful. The oil from
     the leaves has a specific gravity of "925 to

• 935, and that from the
  flowering twigs about '960.

A sample distilled by Schimmel & Co.
a
had the following charac-
ters :—

Specific gravity 0-9189

Optical rotation +4° 20'

Refractive index at 20° 1-4845

Acid value 0-9

Ester value 27

No crystals of ledum camphor separated on standing at - 30°.

(^1) Bericht., 1919, ±6.