Md. Guillen et al., CHARACTERIZATION OF THE ESSENTIAL OILS OF SOME CULTIVATED AROMATIC PLANTS OF INDUSTRIAL INTEREST, Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture, 70(3), 1996, pp. 359-363
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).