“Olivier

Conservationist,
Behra
lot 1A 65, Isoraka,
RAVINTSARA vs
101 Antananarivo,
E-mail: OlivierBahra@MA?IE.mg
Madagascar.
RAVENSARA
and www.MATE.mg A TAXONOMIC
CLARIFICATION

OLIVIER BEHRA* &

CHANTAL RAKOTOARISON
WITH CONTRIBUTIONS BY
RHIANNON HARRIS

This article is presented by Olivier Behra, a recognized

innovative conservation leader. Here he tries to unravel some
of the confusion surrounding the origins and identities of
ravintsara and ravensara. Madagascar has been found to be
one of the three biodiversity hotspots of the world and is the
most in need of attention. Future articles by the same author
will help us focus on the ethical production of essential oils
from this part of the world. 0 2001 Harcourt Publishers Ltd

here is a lasting confusion known for being able to produce essen- (Theron et al.,

T
C1:nnomomum camphora

about the true names and ori- tial oils that vary greatly in their chemi- 1994; Miillenbeck et al., 1997).
gin of the plants producing cal composition according to the pro- The origin of the confusion lies
ravensara, ravintsara, ravensare aro- ducing organ (leaf, bark, root, fruit probably in the Latin name itself. The
matica and havozo essential oils of etc.). The same holds for the essential botanical word ravensara originates
Madagascar. For the past 2 years, we oils of ravensara and ravintsara. from the Latin form of a Malagasy
have been working to clarify this issue To avoid confusion, we suggesl that word ravintsara, meaning ‘good
not only for a clearer understanding people adopt the following nomencla- leaves’. It seems that this led LO the ten-
between buyers and producers, but ture: Aromatic ravensare for Ravensara dency Lo call the species Cinnamomum

also for future research on these aromatica leaf essential oil; Havozo for cumphoru, ravintsara, when in fact it is
extremely interesting essential oils. Ravensara aromatica bark essential oil; only the vernacular name.
There are different species of the and Ravintsara for Cinnamomum cam- The true Ravensa,.a arom&a was

genus Ravensaru in Madagascar. For the phora leaf essential oil. noticed as an impressive aromatic plant
production of essential oils, however, by Flacourt in 1564 and has been tradi-
the confusion is between Ravensara aru- tionally known as a powerful tonic
maticu Sonnerat (Lauraceae) and and antiviral for generations. Although
Cinnamomum camphora (L.) J. Presl. distillation for the essential oil has
(Lauraceae). From these two trees, we As a result of confusion and perhaps been reported by BaumC since January
are able LO obtain at least three differ- misidentiftcation, Cinnamomum campho- 1775, people buying essential oil in
ent essential oils, each of which holds ra has often been wrongly called recent years have mainly received
great interest for aromatherapy as well Ravensara aromatica. According to pub- Cinnamomum camphora essential oil.
as the fragrance industry. lished gas chromatography analyses, Lawrence (2000) reports the need

The Lauraceae family, which also the plants investigated in some previous :to conduct a more detailed phyto-
gives us camphor, cinnamon, bay laurel, studies under the name Ravensam ah-d- chemical study of this species. Here we
cassia, rosewood and may chang, is well nza&a were most probably actually present some of our findings.
The plants 3. Safrole type - around 80% saliiole badly subject to deforestation in some
Cinnamomum camfihoru (L.) J. Presl., and 10% monoterpenols areas, this tree is still abundant in the
known as the camphor tree (and in 4. Nerolidol type - 40-60% neroli- humid central eastern rain forest of
Madagascar as ravintsara), was intro- do1 with 20% each of mono and Madagascar. It is also found sparsely in
duced to the island in the middle of the sesquiterpenoids. the eastern coastal forests.
19th century from Formosa. Usually Originally, when Sonnerat discov-
used for ornamental purposes in resi- The Cinnamomum caybhora trees ered the plant as an unknown species
dential plots, it grows in the highland growing in Madagascar appear to have in 1782, it was named Ravensara aro-
areas (Antananarivo, Antsirabe, a predominant amount of 1,8-cineole matica. In 1950, a species was described
Ankazobe) of the country. This large but with other components such as by Danguy as Ravensara anisata because
tree is also now found growing wild in sabinene and a-terpineol. of its aniseed odour. In fact recent
the central east of Madagascar. Its leaves Ravensara aromatice Sonnerat is a studies have confirmed that R. arumat-
are very different from the ones of completely different species. It is the ica and R. anisatu are technically the
Kavensara aromatica; in addition to most well known endemic aromatic same species (R anisata is a synonym)
being simple and alternate, each leaf plant of Madagascar. It is commonly and Ravensara aromatica has been
has three longitudinal veins (see Fig. l), known as havozo or hazomanitra, meaning chosen as the correct botanical name
a feature characteristic to other ‘aromatic tree’ in the Malagasy lan- (Rasoanaivo & De La Gorce, 1998).
Cinnamomum species. guage. A tree of 20 to 30m in height The probable reason for the con-
Native to China, Japan and and with several buttress roots at the tinued belief that these were two sepa-
Taiwan, the camphor tree is known to base, Ravensara aromatics grows wild rate species is that the bark essential
produce subspecies or chemotypes and at an altitude of 700-1000m. It has a oil (havozo oil) of Ravensaru arornntica
Lhe chemistry of the oil can be variable reddish bark that is strongly aromatic. is very different from the leaf essential
according to regional origins. Apart The leaves have green superior faces oil, and has a very strong aniseed odour
from the standard Hon-sho camphor and dull inferior faces: (see Fig. 2). It is due to its high levels of methyl chavicol,
tree of Japan (rich in camphor up to easily recognized by its small green and occasionally, anethole. De Medici
50%), there are at least four recognized flowers. The fiGt with six septums also (1992) examined amongst other oils of
chemotypes (Weiss, 1997): contains essential oil. The tree is Madagascar, the essential oil of
often colloquially referred to as the Ravensara anisata. He too round methyl
1. Cineole-type - around 76% 1,8- Madagascar clove-nuLmeg (Weiss, chavicol the main constituent (at
cineole with 20% a-pinene and 1997). Although overexploited and around 90%). His study did not state
a-terpinene whether bark or leaf oil was analyzed;
2. Linalol type - around 80% linalol based on our studies, it is most likely
and 10% monoterpenes (also that the sample analyzed came from
referred to as Ho oil) the bark. Additionally, his work shows
that the oil exhibits activity against
Eschericia coli.

The essential oils

Ravintsara essential oil obtained from
the leaves of the Cinnamomum camphora

trees found in Madagascar has a yield

range of 0.7-l%, with the highest yield
(1.5%) being in December-February. We
do not call it camphor oil as one might
assume from its Latin name, but instead
ravintsara, as the Madagascan essential
oil has such a specific composition.
It has a high proportion of 1,8-
cineole, sabinene and a-terpineol
Fig. 1 Cinnamomum camphora. Fig. 2 Ravensara aromatica. (see Table 1). The camphor content is
either completely absent or very low CHEMICAL PROFILES OF RAVINTSARA, AROMATIC
(De Medici, 1992), compared to, for RAVENSARE AND HAVOZO ESSENTIAL OILS
example, camphor oil found in Japan
or ~l‘aiwan. This makes ravintsara essen-
tial oil particularly attractive for aro-
matherapy. It is recognized as strongly
antiviral and antimicrobial, and is also
valued as an excellent nerve tonic. 2’his
oil has been described (albeit under the
wrong name of ~u~e~,~u~~ ~ra~nu~~c~) as
one of the most interesting newcomers
LO the essential oil world (Rasoanaivo &
De La Gorce, 1998).
Aromatic ravensare essential oil
produced from the leaves of kzuen.sara
armauticu trees has a differen chemistry.
Our studies have shown it to consist of
sabinene, myrcene, 1,8-cineole, linalol
and limonene as some of its major com-
ponents. Being strongly antiviral, it is
not surprisingly also recognized as a
general tonic and an anti-stress remedy.
Although the intrinsic quality of
the product is good, until recently this
oil has been produced to variable sLan-

ddrds and it is poorly known apart

from it.s name. It is used by some pro-
fessional aromatherapists who appreci-
ate its qualities.
A comparative chemical profile
between ravintsara, aromatic ravensare
and havozo essential oils can be found
in Table I.

tions. It now appears that aromatic stills). These three fractions of aromatic
ravensare essential oil can be produced ravensare essential oil (types I, II and

In conjunction with the non-govern- with a regular quality. Our ongoing III) have different organoleptic and

mental organisation, Man and The studies have shown that aromatic raven- chemical profiles whilst maintaining
Environment, we have conducted szare essential oil originating frb& the the same general properties (Table 2).
extensive field work on the plant. in its eastern region of the island maintains a &VOZO oil obtained from the
natural habitat to ensure thal it is possi- consistent qualitative gas chromat.ogra- bark of Ruver~sa~a aroma6ca is not an
ble to produce the essential oil in a phy regardless of the season collecte$ ’ essential oil we currently recommend,
manner that will not threaten the Indeed, very soon this extraordi- as our studies have shown that its pro-
species, which is already decreasing, nary plant known for generations by duction is highly destructive and

and even aid its conservation. Our the people of the island for its thera- uncontrolled at this stage. We are solely

forestry officer worked in parallel with interested in producing oils from sus-
1peutic properties will offer three types
an agronomist and a biochemist to t3f pure essential oil according KI the tainable resources and thus do not pro-
6
study the relation of the essential oil to ,Liming of the ~~~stillation (all CO& mote the ~roductio~l or sale of this oil
its habitat and the distillation condi- :From steam distillation in’ stainless steel at present. We, therefore, recommend
 duct a more in-depth look at their
production systems. ‘finis will lead to
not only the production of high-quality
essential oils, but also to the under-
standing of the requirements for
the sustainable production of the
essential oils in terms of biodiversity
conservation.

De Medici, D., Pieretti, S. and

Salvatore, G. (1992) Chemical analy-
sis of essential oils of Malagasy med-
icinal plants by gas chromatography
and NMR spectroscopy. FZuv~ur and

Fragrance Journal 7: 275-28 1.

Lawrence, B. (2000) Progress in essen-
tial oils - ravensara oil. Per@mer and
Flavorist 25 (5): 68-71.

MBllenbeck, S., KBnig, T., Schreier, l?,

Schwab, W., Rajaonarivony, J. and
Ranarivelo, L. (1997) Chemical
composition and analyses of ena-
tiomers of essential oils of
Madagascar. Flavour and Fragrance

that no havozo oil is used unless it can confusions, up until now, the export of Journub 12: 63-69.

be demonstrated that it is done in a the true Ravensara aromatica essential Rasoanaivo, I? and De La Gorce, l?

sustainable manner. oil has not increased. We hope that this (1998) Essential oils of economic
value in Madagascar: present state of
much-needed clarification is taken up
knowledge. Herbalgram 43: 3 l-39,
by the remainder of the essential oil
community. 58-59.
ThCron, E., Holeman, M., Potin-
I‘here is a clear and distinct difference The best way LO differentiate
Gautier, M. and Pinel, R. (1994)
between ravintsara and aromatic raven- between the products is to adopt clear
Authentication of ravensara aromat-
sare essential oils from Madagascar. names as suggested: aromatic raven-
ica and ravensara anisata. Planta
If your essential oil supplier is sare for Ravensara aromatica leaf essen-
,Med 60: 489-490.
selling you a ravensara (Kavensara tial oil and ravintsara for Cinnamomum
Weiss, E.A. (1997) Essential oil crops.
zromatica) from Madagascar that is rich camphoru leaf essential oil originating
London, New York: Cab
in 1,8-cineole, he is in fact, supplying from Madagascar.
International.
you with ravintsara (Cinnamomum Both oils are of great interest and
:am$hora) essential oil. Due to these our study indicates the need to con-