Rabak, Frank
Wild volatile-oil plants and their economic importance by Frank Rabak is a scientific publication written in the early 20th century. It surveys wild, aromatic plants in the United States as potential sources of valuable essential oils, focusing on their chemical constituents and possible commercial uses.The work opens by noting the wide distribution of odorous native plants, the limited domestic oils then being utilized, and a practical classification of volatile oils by odor and chemistry. It outlines the commercial roles and natural sources of camphor, borneol, and cineol, emphasizing their medicinal and industrial value. The core of the book reports original investigations on three species: black sage (Ramona stachyoides) from California, whose oil yields are about 1% at bloom and contain chiefly camphor (over 40%) and cineol (about 22%); wild sage (Artemisia frigida) from the northern Great Plains, producing 0.26–0.41% oil notably rich in borneol (about 40% total, part as esters), with cineol (about 19%) and fenchone (about 8–10%); and swamp bay (Persea pubescens) from the Southeast, yielding around 0.2% oil containing camphor (over 21%), cineol (about 20%), and some borneol, with minor fatty acids free and as esters. Concluding, the author argues that these hardy plants—thriving on poor or waste lands—could be cultivated to supply camphor, borneol, and cineol domestically, with black sage and wild sage looking especially promising, and that their oils also have potential…
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