The essential oils ofOcimum canum Sims (basilic camphor) andOcimum urticifolia Roth from Zimbabwe

Abstract

Plant materials from Ocimum canum Sims (basilic camphor) and Ocimum urticifolia Roth (Labiatae) from Zimbabwe were collected from the wild and steam-distilled or hydrodistilled. The O. canum oil contained 25% (w/w) of precipitated camphor and the decamphorated oil contained camphor (39.5–39.8%), limonene (24.4–25.1%), β-caryophyllene (7.0–7.2%), camphene (6.5–6.7%) and estragole (6.4–6.6%) as the major components. The oil obtained from air-dried plant material contained camphor (57.6%), limonene (16.3%), β-caryophyllene (6.4%) and camphene (5.4%) as the main components. The oil obtained by steam distillation of the fresh and air-dried plant material from O. urticifolia contained α-farnesenes (8.1–21.7%), linalol (4.9–19.7%), β-ocimenes (6.5–15.2%), eugenol (2.3–20.0%), elemicine (1.3–12.5%), camphor (1.4–11.7%) and β-elemene/β-caryophyllene (11.8–15.8%) as the major components, whilst oil from the hydrodistilled plant material contained linalol (23.2%), β-elemene/β-caryophyllene (11.7%), α-farnesenes (12.2%) and elemicine (7.1%) as the major components. Plants belonging to the family Labiatae are chief sources of essential oils and offer potential for cultivation in rural agriculture. Neither species has been previously reported from Zimbabwe. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.