Ravensara essential oils

The essential oil of ravintsara is obtained from the leaves of Cinnamomum camphor a which was introduced from Taiwan and now is growing widely in Madagascar. This essential oil has been misreported and traded as raverrsara or Ravensara aromatica. The trae ravensara essential oil is extracted from the leaves of an endemic tree locally known as Havozo 6-10). 

The essential oil composition as determined following the chemical analysis of the ravensara essential oils was as expected and in accordance with the described organoleptic and physicochemical profile. The first chemotype was dominated by varying amounts of sabinene, limonene and methylchavicol. The second chemotype was dominated by high levels of methyleugenol and the third type was characterized by high levels of methylchavicol. 

Estragole is found in essential oils of basil, fennel, chervil, ravensara and tarragon. Although it is not restricted by any regulatory agencies, there is evidence of potential carcinogenic properties in high doses, (see Fig. 3.7)... 

Characterization of Essential Oils from Cinnamomum camphora T. Nees Eberm. and Ravensara aromatica Sonnerat from Madagascar... 

In contrast, the essential oil of ravintsara was highly homogeneous, and the essential oils of ravensara showed variation in the organoleptic and physicochemical profiles (Table 11-111). 

Table IIL Chemical Composition of Ravintsara (C. camphora) and Ravensara R. aromadca) Essential Oils from Madagascar.

Table IV. Quality Standards for the Essential Oil of Ravintsara (C. camphord) and Ravensara (R. aromaticd)...

The results from this work has shown that the trees in the wild can be easily identified using both botanical as well as chemical markers, thereby avoiding misidentification while collection the leaves. The organoleptic, physicochemical and chemical profiles of the essential oils from both ravintsara (C. camphora) and ravensara (R. aromatica) oils also showed that the essential oils can also be used to differentiate the species. Based upon our data set of 199 individual plants and samples, we offer revise quality control standard specifications (Table IV), to describe the essential oil of ravintsara and ravensara... 

Juliani et al. [16] used NIR to determine adulteration of essential oils. An adulterated sample composed of 1,8-cineole with authentic ravensara Rhus aromatica) oil failed the test for identity, demonstrating that this technique has the ability to identify adulterated essential oils. They also demonstrated that NIR could distinguish essential oils of different chemotypes and species. 

---