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Biology and chemistry of Litsea cubeba, a promising

industrial tree in China
a a a a a a
Yicun Chen , Yangdong Wang , Xiaojiao Han , Linlin Si , Qingke Wu & Liyuan Lin
a
Institute of Subtropical Forestry, Chinese Academy of Forestry , Fuyang , Zhejiang
Province , P. R. China
Published online: 03 Jan 2013.

To cite this article: Yicun Chen , Yangdong Wang , Xiaojiao Han , Linlin Si , Qingke Wu & Liyuan Lin (2013) Biology and
chemistry of Litsea cubeba, a promising industrial tree in China, Journal of Essential Oil Research, 25:2, 103-111, DOI:
10.1080/10412905.2012.751559

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 The Journal of Essential Oil Research, 2013
Vol. 25, No. 2, 103–111, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10412905.2012.751559

Biology and chemistry of Litsea cubeba, a promising industrial tree in China

Yicun Chen*y, Yangdong Wangy, Xiaojiao Han, Linlin Si, Qingke Wu and Liyuan Lin
Institute of Subtropical Forestry, Chinese Academy of Forestry, Fuyang, Zhejiang Province, P. R. China
(Received 10 May 2012; final form 11 October 2012)

Litsea cubeba (Lour.) Pers. (Lauraceae) is a promising industrial crop. The plant is rich in valuable essential oil,
which is widely used as an ingredient in ionone flavors, botanical insecticides, food spices and personal-care prod-
ucts, and the plant extract has been used in traditional Chinese medicine. Furthermore, the potential for producing
biodiesel through transesterification of L. cubeba kernel oil holds great promise as a low-cost bioenergy. Based on the
investigation of L. cubeba genetic resources in the main distribution in China, the article presents an overview of
current advances and future perspectives in the study and use of L. cubeba, including basic biology, chemistry and
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various industrial uses. We intend to provide data and guidance for future large-scale cultivation and creation of deep
processing techniques to meet the growing commercial demands for L. cubeba.
Keywords: essential oil; industrial use; medicine; biodiesel

1. Introduction 2. Biological and chemical aspects

As a result of the ever-increasing depletion of fossil
energy and environmental awareness, exploring promis-
ing crops with desirable traits for industrial materials
has received considerable interest in recent years. Such
crops have the potential to produce a wide range of
industrial products, such as oils, ‘green’ chemicals
(natural bioactive metabolites, rubber, resins and
cellulosic fiber) and liquid fuel (1, 2). It can be
expected that plant-based industries will play a key role
in sustainable agriculture in the near future.
Considering the high biodiversity of plant species
in tropical and subtropical regions, it is feasible to
develop strategies for introducing some under-utilized
industrial crops. Based on our work and previous
advances, it is quite possible that Litsea cubeba can be
exploited as a model industrial crop due its wide distri-
bution in East Asia and excellent potential to produce a
wide range of chemicals (3).
Litsea cubeba (Lour.) Pers. (Litsea, Lauraceae) is
an evergreen tropical shrub that is native to China and
other regions of East Asia. It is sometimes referred to
as the May Chang tree or Chinese pepper, and has been
used in traditional Chinese medicine for many diseases
for thousands of years (4). Litsea cubeba gives off an
aromatic odor and contains most of its essential oils in
the peel and small amounts in leaves and stems. The
main constituent of the essential oil, citral (60–90%),
has various industrial uses, including as a flavoring, in
medicines and personal-care products, and as a botani-
cal insecticide.
2.1 Botanical description of Litsea cubeba
Litsea, in the Lauraceae family, is a genus famous for
producing essential aromatic oil. Litsea comprises
evergreen and deciduous trees and shrubs with fruits
3–15 mm in diameter and is mainly distributed in tropi-
cal and subtropical areas, from 100 to 500 m elevation.
More than ten species of Litsea have been studied and
used for their pharmaceutical potentials (5). However,
L. cubeba may be more popular than other species in
the genus due to its distribution in China.
L. cubeba is a deciduous shrub or small tree (5–8 m
in height) and its fruit is a berrylike spherical drupe.
As a dioecious plant, it usually generates flower buds
in winter and flowers in the spring of the following
year. The flowers are light yellow or white in color,
and the 4–5-mm diameter fruits are green when
immature and turn black at maturity in August and
September (Figure 1A). The fruit of L. cubeba is used in
Chinese traditional medicine and is called Chen-Qie-Zi.
L. cubeba is a photophilous species and has a shallow
root system. It tends to grow on barren mountains and
wastelands, ranging in elevation from 300 to1800 m, as
well as in shrubby areas and sparse woods of the forest
fringe.
The entire L. cubeba plant is rich in essential oil.
Generally, the essential oil content is 2–8% in the peel,
0.87% in fresh leaves and 0.5–2.5% in the wood. The
most popular and traditional use is of the essential oil
in the peel, citral, which comprises 60–80% and some-

*Corresponding author. Email: wyd11111@126.com

yThe authors contributed equally to the manuscript.

! 2013 Taylor & Francis

 104 Y. Chen et al.
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Figure 1. (A) Photograph of Litsea cubeba from Zhejiang Province, China. (B) Map of China depicting approximate distribution of
L. cubeba. The plant is mainly distributed south of the Yangtze River, covering South Jiangsu (JS), South Anhui (AH), Zhejiang (ZJ),
Jiangxi (JX), Fujian (FJ), Taiwan (TW), Guangdong (GD), Hubei (HB), Hunan (HN), Guangxi (GX), Sichuan (SC), Guizhou (GZ),
Yunnan (YN) and Xizang (XZ). Red line indicates the Yangtze River, and the red stars indicate where the plantations are located.

times as much as 90% of the oil content, is an impor-
tant material for ionone series flavors.
2.2 Litsea cubeba propagation methods
L. cubeba seeds are often dormant and have the poten-
tial to form long-lived seed reserves (6), thus, growing
the plant from seed is an inexpensive but inefficient
method of propagation.
In general, seeds are sown in February to March
with germination occurring in May (7). Fruits are usu-
ally collected from six- to eight-year-old trees, and the
peel and flesh are manually removed to obtain the
seeds. The procedures for seed germination pretreat-
ment and germination conditions are as follows. First,
the seeds are sterilized for 3–5 hours in 5% potassium
permanganate solution and then dried in the shade. Sec-
ond, the seeds should be kept in wet sand; moisture
levels should be maintained by watering the surface of
the sand every three days to maintain seed viability.
Germination rates are enhanced considerably if the
seeds are pretreated by kneading and soaking in H2O2,
which efficiently removes seed inhibitors (8).
Given the long-term dormancy and unfavorable ger-
mination rates of L. cubeba seeds, clonal propagation is
a suitable alternative to starting plants from seed. A
high rooting rate (65%) from 1-year-old branches of L.
cubeba has been reported (9), and a rapid clonal propa-
gation system using shoot tips and bud stems has been
developed (10, 11).
2.3 Litsea cubeba genetic resources in China
There are forty-six known varieties of L. cubeba in
China, most are distributed in the southern hills and
mountain regions of the Yangtze River, covering South
Jiangsu and Anhui, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Fujian, Taiwan,
Guangdong, Hubei, Hunan, Guangxi, Sichuan, Guizhou,
Yunnan and Xizang provinces. However, the majority of
L. cubeba resources are wild (80%), and only a few plan-
tations exist, such as those in Hunan (30,000 ha), Fujian
(6,000 ha), Yunnan (80,000 ha), the Guangxi Zhuang
autonomous region (5,000 ha) and Sichuan (3,000 ha)
(Figure 1B).
As an example, the ratio of females to males among
the L. cubeba in Hunan is 1:0.59–0.75 in natural forest
and 1:0.18 in plantations. L. cubeba natural forests are
generally strongly adaptable, but have a short lifespan
(12). An investigation into the genetic resources indi-
cated that production could be improved significantly
with proper management, such as density regulation
and by increasing the female/male ratio.
Conduction large-scale investigation from natural
populations for selecting varieties with good agronomic
traits is urgently needed. In our recent work, we found
that α,β-citral content (per gram fruits) is significantly
different among the ten natural populations. The YA
(Yongan city in Fujian Province) and JO (Jianou city in
Fujiang Province) populations showed high perfor-
mance (shown in Figure 2). Therefore, YA and JO
would be superior candidates for further breeding. Fur-
thermore, we established AFLP amplification reaction
system of L. cubeba (13).
2.4 Chemical composition of Litsea cubeba oil
The chemical components of the essential oil, fatty oil
and other extracts of L. cubeba are as follows (14–28)
(Table 1).
 The Journal of Essential Oil Research
Figure 2. α,β-citral content (per gram Litsea cubeba fruits)
is significantly different among the ten natural populations.
The YA and JO populations showed remarkable high α,β-
citral content comparing with other populations. JO (Jianou
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city, Fujian province), YA (Yongan, Fujian province), fy
(Fenyi city, Jiangxi Province), AY (Anyuan county, Jiangxi
province), YZ (Yongzhou city, Fujian province), BJ (Biejie
city, Guizhou province), ZJ (Zhijin city, Guizhou province),
JD (Jingdong autonomous area, Yunnan province), CN
(Changning county, Sichuan province), FY (Fuyang city,
Zhejiang province).
Essential oils
The chemical nature of L. cubeba essential oil is quite
similar to those of lemon grass (Cymbopogon citratus)
and lemon verbena (Aloysia triphylla). It appears light
yellow in color, is translucent and smells similar to, but
sweeter than, lemongrass. The oil is generally extracted
using a steam-distillation method. The State Standard
of the People’s Republic of China for oil of L. cubeba
Pers. is GB/T 11424-2008.
The dominant components of L. cubeba essential oil
are monoterpenes (α-citral, β-citral, limonene, methyl
heptenone, citronellal, etc.), which are responsible for
the oil’s antioxidant and antibacterial activity. Monoter-
pene synthase coding genes have been isolated and the
enzyme activities have been analyzed (29).
Fatty oils and other extracts
The fatty oil from the L. cubeba kernel comprises 13
C10–C14 olefine acids with a high content of lauric acid
(56.4–61.5%), capric acid and cis-dodec-4-enoic acid,
which impart the oil with properties that are useful in
lubricants and biodiesel (27, 30). The methanol extract
from L. cubeba bark may contain compounds with anti-
inflammatory properties (31). The fruits, leaves and
branches contain many alkaloids (Table 1) (24, 26).
Chemical constituents
The chemical constituents of the essential oil, fatty oil
and other extracts from L. cubeba are shown in Table 1.
105
Eighty-eight chemicals, including monoterpenes (n=41),
alkaloids (n=30), fatty acids (n=14), sesquiterpenes
(n=6), amides (n=2), steroids (n=2) and lignans (n=1)
have been isolated from different parts of L. cubeba.
The most commonly used chemicals in L. cubeba are
the monterpenes (in the essential oil) and alkaloids (in
the ethanol, methanol, or aqueous extracts).
The constituents of L. cubeba vary among its parts
(Table 1). For example, some alkaloids are present only
in the root (15, 24), and litabamine, N-methullauroteta-
nine, reticuline and isocorydine occur only in the bark
(25, 26). Furthermore, the abundance of individual con-
stituents differs among the parts of L. cubeba. β-Citral,
citronella and methyl heptenone are abundant in the
root, whereas the peel is rich in α-citral, β-citral and
limonene. The stem contains mainly β-phellandrene,
terpinen-4-ol and a-thujene (15, 17, 18).
3. Widespread uses of Litsea cubeba
The properties of L. cubeba have resulted in a diversity
of uses for this plant in various industrial fields (32–
39) (Table 2).
3.1 Flavors and fragrances
L. cubeba essential oil is widely used in the perfume
industry. Citral, a component of the essential oil, is
widely used as a semi-synthetic flavor, especially as
ionone (Figure 3). Ionone flavor is one of the most
extensively used flavors in the pharmaceutical industry.
β-Ionone is used to manufacture cyclocitral, α,β-dama-
scenone and vitamins. The other main chemical compo-
nents of L. cubeba essential oil are also widely used as
feedstock and for industrial products. Citronellal is used
to produce hydroxycitronellal and l-menthol, Limonene
is the material for carvone, and methyl heptenone can
be used to synthesize γ-damascenone (Figure 3) (40).
3.2 Medicines
L. cubeba has been used in Chinese traditional medi-
cine for thousands of years. The root, stem, leaves and
fruits of the plant have been used to treat fatigue, head-
ache, chills, muscle pain and depression. The bark
extract shows antioxidant activity (34), and the bark
extract and its fractions have anti-inflammatory proper-
ties (31). Litebamine alkaloids isolated from L. cubeba
bark inhibit rat smooth muscle cell adhesion and migra-
tion on collagen as well as platelet aggregation, indicat-
ing a use in the prevention of cardiovascular disease
(25, 35). Litebamine and its N-homologues exhibit
moderate antiacetylcholinesterase activity (41). Laurote-
tamine alkaloids isolated from L. cubeba relax the rat
thoracic aorta by suppressing Ca2+ influx (42). Fresh
leaves are mashed and used for skin problems, such as
sores and furuncles (4). Aqueous extracts of the fruit
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Table 1. The chemical components of the essential oil, fatty oils and other extracts of Litsea cubeba different parts.
106

Constituents Root Stem Leaf Flower Peel Seed Bark References

Monoterpenes (n=41)
α-Citral (geranial) √ √⁄ 14–16
⁄ ⁄
β-Citral (neral) √ √ √ 14–16
Limonene √ √ √ √ √⁄ 14, 15, 17
α-Pinene √ √ √ √⁄ √ 14, 15, 17
β-Pinene, linalool, camphene, β-myrcene, α-terpineol, a-farnesene, a-thujanol, γ-terpinene √ √ √ √ √ 14, 17, 18
Geraniol, p-cymene, citronellol, √ √ √ √ 15, 17, 18
Nerol √ √ √ 14, 18
Citronellal √⁄ √ √ 15, 18, 19
Methyl heptenone √⁄ √ √ √ 15, 17, 18
1,8-Cineole √ √ √⁄ √⁄ √ 15, 16, 18
Isopulegol, 2,6-dimethylocta-2,4,6-triene √ √ 14, 15. 17
Geranyl formate √ √ 15, 17
β-Phellandrene, terpinen-4-ol √ √⁄ √ √ √ 14, 17
β-trans-Ocimene, bornyl acetate, camphor √ √ √ 17, 18
α-Terpinyl acetate √ √ 18
α-Terpinene √ √ √⁄ 17, 18
β-Terpinene √ 17
Geranyl acetate √ √ √ 17, 18
Safrol √ 17
a-Thujene √ √⁄ √ √ 17
3-Carene, (E)-p-menth-2-en-1-ol √ √ √ √ 17, 18
Y. Chen et al.

6-Methylhept-5-en-2-one √ √ 17
Sabinene, terpinolene, llinalyl acetate, citronellyl acetate, neryl acetate √ √ 18
Alkaloids (n=30)
Atheroline, N-methylaurotetamine, litcubine, litcubinine, N-methyllindcarpine √ 20–22, 24
Laurotetamine, xanthoplanine, magnocurarine √ √ 20, 23, 24
Litebamine √⁄ 25
N-methyllaurotetanine, reticuline √ 25, 26
Isocorydine √ √ 25, 26
8-O-methyloblongine, oblongine √ 20, 23
(+)-N-(methoxycarbonyl)-N-norboldine, (+)-isoboldine, β-N-oxide, norisoboldine, norisocorydine, wilsonirine, √ (Aerial part) 21, 26
isodomesticine, glaziovine, laurolitsine, isoboldine, lirioferine, boldine, norlirioferine, N-methylcoclaurine,
laurelliptine, (+)-N-(methoxycarbonyl)-N-norglaucine
Fatty acids (n=14)
Lauric acid, capric acid, cis-dodec-4-enoic acid √⁄ 27
cis-Dec-4-enoic acid, cis-tetradec-4-enoic acid, lignoceric acid, linoleic acid, myristic acid, oleic acid, palmitic √ 27, 28
acid, ethyl palmitate, stearic acid, ethyl stearate
Lignoceric acid √ √ 24
Sesquiterpenes (n=6)
β-Caryophyllene √ √⁄ √ √ 17, 18
n-trans-Nerolidol √ √ 17, 18
(Continued)
 The Journal of Essential Oil Research 107

possess an anti-asthmatic effect (33). Recently,

√, the various part of L. cubeba contains the chemical. √⁄, the content of the chemical is high in the part of L. cubebe. The chemicals from L. cubeba can be divided into seven types, including
Root Stem Leaf Flower Peel Seed Bark References

15,17
compounds in the fruit oil of L. cubeba have shown
17
17
18

24

20
cytotoxic activity against cancer cells in the human
lung, liver and oral cavity (16).

3.3 Food additives

α-Ionone and β-ionone isolated from L. cubeba essential
oil are used as food flavorings according to GB2760-
96. The inclusion reaction between β-eyclodextfin and
L. cubeba essential oil strengthens the stability of the
oil and expands its applications in the food and phar-
macological industries (43). L. cubeba essential oil has
√

a fresh lemony odor, and is a popular food-flavoring

agent and preservative, particularly for sugar, cakes,
√⁄
√

drinks and spices (44). L. cubeba essential oil is used

as a raw material for the production of vitamins E, K
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and A (32) (Figure 3).

3.4 Personal-care products

√
√

In the 1950s, L. cubeba essential oil was introduced to

western countries as a fragrance in personal-care prod-
monoterpenes (n=41), alkaloids (n=30), fatty acid (n=14), sesquiterpenes (n=6), amides (n=2), steroids (n=2) and lignans (n=1).

ucts such as soaps, lotions, toothpaste, etc. The two

main fatty acids in the oil, lauric acid and capric acid,
are widely used as a raw material for the manufacture
of personal-care products (27, 28).

3.5 Antibiotics and pesticides

Like the oils of many other aromatic plants, L. cubeba
essential oil has broad-spectrum antifungal and anti-
bacterial activities (17). L. cubeba oil is used directly
to rid rice, corn and horsebeans of Aspergillus flavus,
with no toxic side-effects. L. cubeba oil is also a natu-
ral botanical insecticide against the cabbage looper and
N-trans-feruloyl-3-methoxytyramine, N-cis-feruloyl-3-methoxytyramine

is a repellent to termites, Sitophilus zeamais, Tribolium

castaneum and pinewood nematodes (37, 38, 45).
Alkaloids, litseacubebic acid and monoterpene lactone
isolated from L. cubeba have good antibiotic activity
against a variety of microbial pathogens (26).

3.6 Other uses

L. cubeba kernel oil has been used as a raw material,
and p-toluene sulfonic acid as a catalyst to synthesize
biodiesel (30). Also, the kernel oil can be used as a
resistance-reducing agent and a metal-ion precipitator
(39). The residues of fruits after oil extraction contain
crude protein, lipid and fiber, as well as an abundance
β-Elemene, selin-6-en-4-ol

of minerals such as calcium and phosphorus, and have

β-Daucosterol, β-sitosterol

been used as a natural feed and preservatives.

Table 1. (Continued)

4. Industrial status of L. cubeba in China

Steroids (n=2)
γ-Cadinene

Lignans (n=1)
Amides (n=2)
γ-Elemene

4.1 History of the exploration and applications of

Constituents

Eugenol

L. cubeba in China
While L. cubeba has been widely used for centuries in
traditional Chinese medicine, it was not until the 1960s
 108 Y. Chen et al.

Table 2. The wide industrial uses of Litsea cubeba.

Industrial uses Application

Flavors and Ionone series essences, perfume, high-grade cosmetics
fragrances
Spice Spice for food, drink, cake etc. Materials for vitamin E, K, A (32)
Personal-care Soap, toothpaste, lotions etc.
products
Medicine The fruit named Chen-Qie-Zi (4);anti-asthma (33);anti-inflammatory(31);antioxidant activity(34);prevent
cardiovascular disease (25, 35, 36);anti cancer (16);cure skin problems (4)
Pesticide Broad-spectrum antifungal activities; botanical insecticides to cabbage looper and repellent to termites (37,
38)
Feed and Pannage, feed-mold inhibitor
preservatives
Biodiesel Materials for biodiesel (30)
Other usage Resistance reducing agent, lubricant, Metal ion precipitator (39)
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Figure 3. The deep-processed products from L. cubeba chemicals, including citral, citronellal, limonene and methyl heptenone
(40).

that the plant attracted the interest of Chinese biologists
and farmers. Research and development activities
focused on its medical uses and biological and bio-
chemical characteristics (14, 28, 39) More than 4000 ha
of plantations were once found in Fujian, Sichuan,
Hunan and Jiangxi Provinces. However, a decline in
production and profitability due to a lack of improved
varieties ultimately prompted many farmers to abandon
the business. Thus, most L. cubeba plantations were
converted to other species in the 1980s.
In the past few decades, the essential oil has been
exported to Western countries for personal-care prod-
ucts. Farmers use simple distillation methods to extract
crude oils (citral, 60–70%) from L. cubeba, given the
perishable nature of the fruits and the difficulty of their
transportation in the mountainous areas in which the
plant is grown. This crude oil is sent to factories for
further processing and subsequent export. The super-
critical carbon dioxide method of extraction has been
used recently. Today, L. cubeba essential oil is readily
available in health-food stores and at specialty and
online retailers.
4.2 Commercial demand for L. cubeba essential oil
China is the greatest producer of L. cubeba essential
oil, which is used locally or exported. From 2000 to
2010, China’s annual export volume of L. cubeba
essential oil was relatively stable (>400 tons/year), but
annual export sales increased by more than $4 million/
year because the unit price (dollar/kg) of L. cubeba
essential oil increased from $7.71/kg in 2000 to
$17.10/kg in 2010 (Figure 4A), and has reached
$22.41/kg in 2011. The main export countries comprise
the UK, Germany, the USA, Spain, the Netherlands,
France and Switzerland. Europe accounts for more than
60% of China’s essential oil export market (Figure 4B),
according to China customs data (harmonized system
code, HS 33012950).
4.3 Current advances and challenges
Because of the increasing global demand for, and polit-
ical promotion of, L. cubeba essential oil, great efforts
have been made to improve the cultivation and process-
ing of L. cubeba in China. Current advances and chal-
lenges in the Chinese L. cubeba industry are as follows:
• Abundant natural L. cubeba resources make it
possible to increase yields through proper man-
agement and breeding technology. Measures
should be taken to shift extensive operations to
intensive management.
• A successful L. cubeba industry chain depends
largely on the reliability of supply. A multitude
of factors, including propagation, superior varie-
 The Journal of Essential Oil Research 109
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Figure 4. (A) Export status of L.
presented. The export volume trend
been increasing. (B) Importation of
America (13%) > South America
33012950).
cubeba oil during the past ten years (2000–2010). Export volume sales and unit prices are
is stable, and export sales have increased slightly, whereas the unit price of L. cubeba oil has
L. cubeba essential oil from China during 1995–2011. Europe (64%) > Asia (21%) > North
(2%) > Australia (0.5%). Data are from China customs (harmonized system code, HS

Figure 5. Typical flow for the Litsea cubeba industrial chain, including genetic resource investigations, agricultural production,
processing and conversion, application and usage.

ties from breeding, and improved cultivation 5. Conclusions and prospects

techniques may influence this link. Both tradi-
tional and molecular breeding are being con-
ducted in our laboratory to investigate the
genetic resource and to select superior varieties
(46, 47).
• Given the multiple known industrial uses of
L. cubeba, creating high-value-added specialty
chemicals from L. cubeba should be a goal of
Chinese industry. For example, currently there
are no factories in China capable of producing
high-grade flavoring irone from L. cubeba essen-
tial oil. Rather, Switzerland and Japan currently
produce these products, where several factories
have developed the ability to produce ionone
and damascenone (Figure 3). This situation has
resulted in low wages and profits for the Chi-
nese, who have to export the product at a low
price. Therefore, more research and development
should be conducted on advanced deep-process-
ing techniques for L. cubeba essential oil.
Essential-oil crops highlight diversified production
opportunities by applying the off-farm techniques, and
are therefore economically reliable (48). Meanwhile, a
new sustainable-development law enacting forest tenure
reform in China has prompted farmers to efficiently
manage forests. It becomes clearly that, therefore, owing
to multiple potential industrial uses and governmental
support, L. cubeba shows significant promise of enabling
the commercialization of essential oil crops in China.
The product chain for the L. cubeba industry
includes genetic resource investigations (wide resources
and cultivars), agricultural production (propagation,
breeding, cultivation and plantations), processing and
conversion (product extraction, preparation and process-
ing), and application and usage (product marketing and
sales) (Figure 5) (49). Technical bottlenecks including a
lack of superior varieties and limited deep-processing
techniques call for more efforts to develop state-of-the-
art plantations and processing and to develop high-
value-added products for consumers.
 110 Y. Chen et al.
Acknowledgments
This study was financially supported by the Project of
Science and Technology of State Forestry Administration, P.
R. China (2011-01).
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