CHARACTERIZATION OF THE ESSENTIAL OILS OF SOME CULTIVATED AROMATIC PLANTS OF INDUSTRIAL INTEREST

The compositions of the essential oils of Rosmarinus officinalis L, Sa lvia lavandulifolia V and Lavandula latifolia M, obtained by steam dis tillation from plants cultivated in the northeast of Spain, have been studied by gas chromatography and gas chromatography/mass spectrometry . The essential oil of rosemary appears to be more complex and richer in flavour notes than other previously studied Spanish rosemary oils, and has an intermediate ratio of cc-pinene and of 1,8-cineole in relat ion to essential oils of rosemary of different geographical origins, b ut higher proportions of camphor, verbenone and linalool. The essentia l oil of sage has proportions of 1,8-cineole, camphor, endo-borneol, t ranscaryophyllene and alpha-humulene closer to commercial Salvia offic inalis 1, than to other Spanish sages of different geographical locati ons, and the difference from commercial Salvia officinalis L is due pr incipally to the higher ratio of terpene hydrocarbons and the lower pr oportion of thujone in the Spanish sage studied here. The essential oi l of the spike lavender has the same main components and similar propo rtions as other Spanish wild and commercial spike lavender essential o ils, but shows differences in the nature of the minor components (rhod inol fraction).