Cultivarietal comparison of patchouli plants in relation to essential oil production and quality

Patchouli, Pogostemon cablin Benth., is an important source of essential oil. On the basis of botanical observations and gas‐chromatographic patterns of oils obtained, the major characteristics of three cultivars were compared. From cultivar I, an oil close to that commercially available was produced with a yield of 1.6% (wt/wt). From cultivar II, a lower yield of an oil having an additional component was obtained. From cultivar III, a relatively high amount of oil was recovered from each plant owing to the bigger canopy it forms. The quality of the oil, however, was judged to be markedly different from that of others. Each cultivar could be identified by its characteristic leaf morphology and trichome density.