Progress in Essential Oils: Yarrow Oil, Spikenard Oil, and Dwarf Pine and Mountain Pine Oils

Yarrow Oil

The yarrow oil of commerce is rich in chamazulene; consequently, it is a blue oil. Although it is obtained by steam distillation of Achillea millefolium L. that is harvested in full flower, a number of chemical forms are known, of which many are devoid of chamazulene. One such oil produced from plants collected in Serbia was the subject of analysis by Chalchat et al. (1999).

The oils produced from five clones of A. millefolium were analyzed by Orth et al. (1999). The various compositions of these oils are shown in T-1. As can be seen from the results, with the exception of the oil that was rich in mono- and sesquiterpene hydrocarbons, all other oils contained more than 45% chamazulene.

An oil produced from A. millefolium collected from its natural habitat in the flowering stage from Pulwama, Jammu and Kashmir (India) was found by Shawl et al. (2002) to be devoid of chamazulene.

 

 

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