Effect of the growth environment on Patchouli (Pogostemon cablin Benth.) oil character at Southeast Sulawesi, Indonesia

Abstract

Patchouli (Pogostemon cablin Benth.) is a source of essential oils and widely used as an aromatic medicinal plant and used in flavour and fragrance industries as well as in the pharmaceutical industry. The essential oil constituents of P. cablin leafs collected from two different altitude habitats, highland area (A, 746 MAMSL) and coastal area (B, 17 MAMSL) of Southeast Sulawesi has been investigated. The characterisation was performed on its physico-chemical properties such as organoleptic, refractive index and other chemical constituents using GC-MS spectroscopy. The result showed that the essential oil content of patchouli in the highland area was higher (0.47%) than that in the coastal area (0.31%). The oil of highland area was lightly yellow with a refractive index of 1.507, while the coastal area was orange colour in a refractive index of 1.502. Analysis the main chemical constituent showed the highland area have a higher concentration of patchouli alcohol than coastal area. The results indicated that both plants were collected in different altitude habitats and have different essential oils characters.