Essential Oil Composition of Alpinia calcarata and Alpinia galanga Rhizomes - A Comparative Study

Essential oils obtained by the hydrodistillation of Alpinia calcarata and Alpinia galanga rhizomes were analyzed by Gas chromatography-Mass spectroscopy. Fifty constituents comprising of 94.7 % of rhizome oil were obtained from A. calcarata and fifty one components of 93.1 % of A. galanga were identified. The major components in the A. calcarata were alpha- and beta-fenchyl acetates (12.9 and 9.7 % respectively), cubenol (15.0 %) and 1,8-cineole (12.1 %) and that of A. galanga were 1, 8 -cineole (32.9 %), alpha-terpineol (12.7 %) and germacrene-D (6.1 %).