STUDIES ON MINOR SEED OILS .11

Abstract

Chemical screening of seed oils from six species of different plant families has been carried out by the use of various chromatographic (TLC- GLC) and spectroscopic (UV, IR) techniques. All the seed oils were generally found to contain palmitic, oleic and linoleic acids but the variability in their amounts was encountered in all species. Three seed oils namely, Embelia ribes, Chenopodium album and Alstonia verticillosa, were strikingly rich in oleic-linoleic content (> 61%). A. verticillosa was significantly found comparable with that of groundnut oil with respect to their fatty acid composition, especially to the contents of oleic (∼ 54%) and linoleic (∼ 20%) acids.