Essential Oil Profiles of Different Parts of Palmarosa (Cymbopogon martinii(Roxb.) Wats. var.motiaBurk.)

Essential oils distilled from whole herb, leaf lamina, leaf sheath and inflorescence of palmarosa plants cultivated in south India were analyzed by GC and GC/MS. Inflorescence (2.00%) and leaf lamina (1.40%) produced significantly higher oil yield than whole herb (0.75%) and leaf sheath (0.33%). Palmarosa stem did not produce oil. Seventeen constituents accounting for 95.6–97.1% of the oils were identified. (E)-β-Ocimene (1.2–4.3%), linalool (0.8–2.0%), geraniol (70.1–85.3%), geranyl acetate (4.3–14.8%) and (E,Z)-farnesol (1.6–3.4%) were the major components. Whole herb oil was richer in linalool, β-caryophyllene and (E,Z)-farnesol. Leaf lamina and leaf sheath oils were richer in geraniol. Inflorescence oil was richer in (E)-β-ocimene and geranyl acetate. To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first report on the oil profiles of leaf lamina and leaf sheath of palmarosa.