Linaloe Seed Oil

#### Linaloe Seed Oil. From the "seeds" (these fruits are berries) and husks of the Linaloe tree (see monograph on **Linaloe Wood Oil**), an essential oil can be steam distilled, often producing a very attractive yield. While the linaloe tree grows wild in Mexico and probably originates from that area, the seeds are not distilled in Mexico in any great amounts. When trees are felled so that the wood may be distilled, it is not a good policy also to distil the seed with which new trees may be produced after 20 to 30 years of growing. Shortly after 1900, English settlers in India brought linaloe seeds along with seeds of many other interesting Central- and South American plants to their Fareastern estates. In the fertile Mysore province, great plantings were laid out, and not many years later, the first experimental distillations of **Linaloe Seed Oil **were undertaken in India. Thus, the trees continue to grow, and the harvesting of seeds can even take place earlier than the cutting of wood for distillation. Furthermore, in India, the **Husks **from the linaloe fruits are distilled, and they yield oil in abundance. **Linaloe**** ****Seed-and-Husk**** ****Oil**** **is quite similar in odor type to **Linaloe**** ****Wood**** ****Oil**, but it is somewhat harsher, with a slightly bitter topnote. The more husks included in the distillation, the higher content of Linalyl-Acetate in the oil will be. It is even claimed that **Linaloe**** ****Husk**** ****Oil,**** **if steam distilled under reduced pressure, e.g. 250 mm. Hg. (a recent and interesting development in distillation technique), consists almost entirely of linalyl acetate, an ester which apparently is hydrolyzed in the ordinary steam distillation; compare steam distillation of lavender at high altitude (low atmospheric pressure!). A linaloe leaf-and-twig oil is also distilled in India. This oil consists almost entirely of linalool (about 50%) and linalyl acetate (about 40%). Oils of this composition have very little if anything at all, to offer to the perfume industry in countries where linalool-bearing oils are freely available at low cost, or where synthetic linalool is produced at competitive price. Consequently, these Indian oils are rarely exported. It serves no purpose to describe individual samples of these oils since they vary substantially according to the ratio of seed, husks or twigs used in the distillation. The oils are almost colorless and present typical linalool-linalyl acetate odors with more or less pronounced terpene-like topnote. The topnote is generally lighter, less "rubberlike", less myrcenelike than the topnote of Brazilian or Peruvian bois de rose oils. **Linaloe Seed Oil **is used locally in India in the same way as bois de rose oil is used elsewhere, while the **Linaloe Husk Oil **is a local (Indian) source of natural isolated linalyl acetate. The annual production of these oils is steadily increasing and is presently estimated to be in excess of 10 metric tons.