Essential Oil of Leaves and Flowers of `Sweet Dani': A Lemon Basil (Ocimum basilicum)
in HortScienceHydro-distilled essential oils from fresh and dry leaves and fresh and dry flowers of `Sweet Dani', a new ornamental lemon basil (Ocimum basilicum) cultivar with potential as a source of natural citral, were analyzed by GC and GC/MS. The essential oil contents were 0.18%, 0.19%, 0.30%, 0.28% w/w on a fresh weight basis of fresh and dry leaves, and fresh and dry flowers, respectively. Oils from leaves and flowers differed significantly in content and composition. The major constituents in dry leaf oil were neral 21.8% and geranial 33.5%. The major constituents in dry flower oil included: nerol 11.5%, neral 12.9%, geraniol 7.6%, and geranial 17.7%. Nerol (1.6%), and geraniol (0.4%) were very low in dry leaf oil. As citral is a combination of neral and geranial, the relative leaf and flower citral content is 55.3% and 30.6% of the total oil, respectively. Linalool and octanol were detected in flower oils only.
