Aromatic Plants of French Polynesia. II. Composition of the Essential Oils of Zingiber spectabile Griffith

ABSTRACT

Six samples of the essential oils obtained by hydrodistillation of stems and leaves of Zingiber spectabile were analyzed by GC and GC/MS. The mean oil yields were 0.027% for the leaves and 0.01% for the stems. The oils contained homogeneous qualitative compositions with high percentages of monoterpene hydrocarbons. The major components of the leaf and stem oils were α-pinene (7.44–11.42% and 10.78–13.69%), β-pinene (35.85–49.35% and 23.52–26.17%) and β-phellandrene (16.59–18.45% and 23.11–38.05%), respectively.

KEY WORD INDEX:

• Zingiber spectabile
• Zingiberaceae
• essential oil composition
• α-pinene
• β-pinene
• β-phellandrene