Manevoro Oil

#### Manevoro Oil. Not widely known, and rarely offered in more than 10-kilo lots, **Manevoro Oil **is an essential oil, produced by steam distillation of a Madagascan herb of the genus Labiatae. Manevoro is a term which is native for "crocodile herb". The plant grows wild in the shady forests of northwestern Madagascar and the off-shore island of Nossi-Bé. The plant is not cultivated, and the author knows of no other place where this plant is to be found. The leaves of the wild growing plant are steam distilled in Nossi-Bé, and the distillation waters are extracted with petroleum ether in order to avoid the loss of the oil. The specific gravity of manevoro oil is close to 1.00, and the oil easily forms emulsion with water. The combined oil phases are washed with alcohol to remove resins and waxes, and, after filtration and evaporation of the alcohol in vacuum, the **Manevoro **oil is obtained. It is a pale amber to dark amber or brownish-colored, somewhat viscous liquid of sweet-woody, very rich and somewhat herbaceous odor, reminiscent of patchouli, orris, costus, Atlas cedar and sage clary concrète. The dryout on a blotter shows an increasing sweetness and a rich, "tobacco-like", herbaceous undertone with a tremendous tenacity and great diffusive power. **Manevoro Oil **can find application in high-class perfumes of the "powdery" type, in aldehydic bases, ambre-colognes, etc. It blends excellently with the above mentioned materials and with labdanum products, styrax, cinnamic alcohol, nitromusks, heliotropine, methylionones, cedar-wood derivatives, vetiver, citrus oils, helichrysum oil, cypress oil, juniperberry oil, cardamom, ginger, black pepper oil, etc. The usual concentration of manevoro oil in a perfume base may be around 0.2 to 0.5 percent, and overdosage is very easily reached. Less than twice the price of geranium oil and about six to eight times the price of patchouli oil, the manevoro oil cannot be classified as an expensive oil when its strength is taken into consideration. At present, the annual production of **Manevoro**** ****Oil**** **is only about 50 to 100 kilos.