Essential oil composition of Cymbopogon martinii from different places in India.

The essential oils of Palmarosa ( Cymbopogon martinii (Roxb.) Wats. var. motia Burk) flowering herbs from three different geographical locations in India, viz. Hyderabad,Lucknow and Amarawati were analysed by high-resolution GC and GC -MS. In all three samples, geraniol (67.6 -83.6%) was the major constituent and, although the composition of the three oils was similar, quantitative differences in the concentration of some constituents were observed. The GC and GC -MS analysis of the Hyderabad, Lucknow and Amarawati oils resulted in the identification of 40, 38 and 33 constituents, representing 98.5%, 99.7% and 99.8% of the oils,respectively. Among the three oils analysed, Amarawati oil was of the highest quality due to higher geraniol (83.6%) and lower geranyl acetate (2.3%) and geranial (1.0%) content. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]