IMMORTELLE, EXTRACT (Hetichyrsum angustifolium DC.)

Description

Small plant growing wild or cultivated in the Mediterranean basin, Africa, and central Asia. Several species of helichrysum are known: H. italicum Don., H. stoechas D.C., H. kilimandjari, and H. arenarium Mch. H. italicum, which could be identified with H. angustifolium D.C., is a small, densely branched shrub bearing numerous yellow-colored flowers. The part used is the flowering tops. Immortelle, extract (Helichrysum) has an intense, pleasant, sweet odor with a fruity undertone. The essential oil, steam-distilled from the fresh flowering tops, is a pale-yellow liquid with a strong, pleasant odor. Its main constituents include free and esterified nerol, furfural, eugenol, linalool,valeric aldehyde, and d-pinene. The physical-chemical characteristics of the oil vary widely, even between essential oils distilled from the same helichrysum varieties of different origin.