Abstract
The essential oil of Kam-seh-chang, a kind of Acorus gramineus SOLAND. in Taiwan was reexamined by gas-liquid chromatography. The oil, obtained in 0.5% yield from fresh leaves, was mainly consisted of methylchavicol amounting to 93.6%, together with traces of α-pinene, camphene, and β-pinene ; limonene 0.2%, 1, 8-cineole 0.1%, p-cymene 0.4%, linalool ( ? ) 0.3%, traces of α-ylangene and β-elemene ; α-selinene 2.0%, anethole 0.3%, methyl-eugenol 0.5%, p-anisaldehyde 0.6%, cis-methylisoeugenol 0.3%, trans-methylisoeugenol trace, β-asarone 0.2%, p-methoxycinnamicaldehyde 1.0%, and other compounds. From the view-point of chemical systematics, this plant will be a new variety of Acorus gramineus SOLAND. and may be considered to be the ancestor of the ordinary one, containing cis- and trans-asarone as the main constituents.
