Abstract

ESSENTIAL OIL COMPOSITION OF BAUHINIA VARIEGATA L. FLOWERS

Neha Sharma¹, Renu Bhardwaj¹, Bikram Singh², Satwinderjeet Kaur¹*

¹Guru nanak Dev University, Department of Botanical and  Environmental Sciences, Amritsar-143005, India.
²CSIR-Institute of Himalayan Bioresource Technology, Natural Plant Product Division, Palampur, HP 176061, India.

ABSTRACT

Essential oils have a wide spectrum of use in medicine, flavouring and fragrances. Bauhinia variegata L., commonly known as Kachnar, is a medium-sized deciduous tree belonging to Fabaceae. It is used traditionally against bronchitis, leprosy, tumors and ulcers. Flowers of B. variegata are known for their medicinal value and are consumed widely as vegetable and pickle in northern India. In the prsesnt study, an attempt has been made to extract the essential oil from the flowers of B. variegata using Clavenger’s apparatus which yeilded a light-yellow oil. GC/MS analyses of the oil revealed nerolidol (20.80%), α-bisabolol (17.08%) and β-bisabolene (10.13%) as the major constituents.

Keywords: ?-bisabolol, ?-bisabolene, Bauhinia variegata L., GC/MS, Nerolidol.