The Ravintsara: a tree that needs to be protected

Pranarôm is committed to maintaining biodiversity, and is investing in ethical production of essential oil of Ravintsara

The Ravintsara: a tree that needs to be protected

Essential oil of Ravintsara (Cinnamomum camphora CT cineol, leaf) is a must for aromatherapy. Its properties and its many beneficial effects put it in the top 10 most-used chemotyped essential oils.

This essential oil is produced in Madagascar from the leaves of the Cinnamomum camphora, a rainforest tree that can grow as high as 15 metres in the wild.
Its Malagasy name, Ravintsara, comes from “ravina”, meaning “tree”, or “leaf”, and “tsara” meaning “good”. This is a local name, reflecting the use of its leaves by the ancestors of the people of Madagascar.

However, the tree is not endemic to Madagascar. This species of cinnamon tree originates from China. But the essence it secretes in Madagascar in no way resembles the one produced by the same tree in China! While in China the Cinnamomum camphora produces an essential oil rich in linalol, known as Ho wood, in Madagascar, it produces a unique essential oil, rich in 1,8 cineol - ravintsara. The differences in climate and soil type explain this difference in chemical composition and remind us, if we need reminding, of the whole importance of the concept of chemotype.

Unfortunately, the survival of essential oil of ravintsara is not guaranteed. Like many species in Madagascar, Cinnamomum camphora has an uncertain future. Slash and burn farming, erosion, deforestation and charcoal production are destroying 200,000 hectares of Madagascan forest every year. The bare soil is then lost through erosion.

This is why Pranarôm is taking a stand against deforestation and has invested in a policy to preserve the Ravintsara. In partnership with local producers, Pranarôm is creating a nursery. This is a long term project, which required preliminary trials to guarantee essential oil of a quality at least equal to that provided by the trees growing in the wild.
So the young trees have been planted on a high plateau, within a 150 km radius of Antananarive, in conditions close to the tree’s original habitat. The 600 trees per hectare are regularly pruned and maintained in bush form. It is then easy to cut branches for distillation. There is no longer any question of sacrificing wild trees to distil their leafy branches. The plant material is distilled on site, thus avoiding difficult transport over badly-maintained roads.

April 2006 will mark an important stage in this project; three years after the first planting the first Ravintsara cutting will take place.

Ravintsara/Ravensara = green cabbage and cabbage green?

NOT AT ALL.

But… A long time ago, the names “ravensara” and “ravintsara” got mixed up. The Ravintsara (Cinnamomum camphora CT cineol) was named “Ravensara aromatica”!

However, the essential oils of Ravintsara (Cinnamomum camphora CT cineol leaf) are very different from those of Ravensare (Ravensara aromatica Sonnerat leaf). Distilled from two different trees, one, ravintsara, is rich in 1,8 cineol, while the other, ravensare, contains limonene and methyl-chavicol***.

But the essential oil sold by Pranarôm hasn’t changed. And ravinstara (Cinnamomum camphora CT cineol), rich in 1,8 cineol, is indeed the EX- “Ravensara aromatica”.

*** See chromatographies

Ravensare - Ravensara aromatica

Ravintsara- Cinnamomum camphora ct cineole