Anil J. John, Vrujesh P. Karunakaran, and Varughese George,* Nediyaparambil S. Pradeep, Mathur G. Sethuraman

Abstract: The essential oil obtained by hydrodistillation of the leaves of Neolitsea foliosa var. caesia was analyzed by GC and GC/MS. Nineteen components comprising 90.6% of the oil were identified. The major components of the oil were β−caryophyllene (35.3%), caryophyllene oxide (9.6%), elemol (8.2%) and β−elemene (6.1%). The oil showed moderate antibacterial activity against most of the tested bacteria.

Neolitsea foliosa (Nees) Gamble var. caesia (Meisner) Gamble, belonging to the family Lauraceae is a tree with long petioled, long acuminate, very glaucous leaves. It is distributed in the Western Ghats, Peninsular India and Malaysia and is common along streams on hills. The flowers are dioecious, in sub-sessile umbellules, arranged in clusters with small bracts at their base. The berries are globose, fruiting perianth rather large compared with berry. Flowering and fruiting usually occurs between September and December (1–4). Essential oils from the leaf, seed, mesocarp and fruit of Neolitsea sericea (5–8) and leaf oil of N. zeylanica (9) have been studied. In this communication, the chemical composition and antibacterial activity of the leaf oil of Neolitsea foliosa var. caesia is reported for the first time.